Prevalence of Auditory Processing Disorder in School-Aged Children in the Mid-Atlantic Region

Background: Although auditory processing disorder (APD) is a widely recognized impairment, its prevalence and demographic characteristics are not precisely known in the pediatric population. Purpose: To examine the demographic characteristics of children diagnosed with APD at a tertiary health-care facility and the prevalence of pediatric APD. Research Design: A cross-sectional study. Study Sample: A total of 243 children (149 boys and 94 girls) who were referred to the Nemours Audiology Clinics in the Delaware Valley for an APD evaluation. The mean ages were 9.8 yr for boys and 9.7 yr for girls. Out of 243 children referred for an APD evaluation, 94 children exhibited one or more auditory processing deficits in the areas of auditory closure, auditory figure ground, binaural integration, binaural separation, and temporal processing. Data Collection and Analysis: Demographic and audiological data, clinical history (parental reports on prenatal and postnatal information, birth weight and height, medical and developmental history, otologic/audiological history, education information, behavioral characteristics), and results of the APD test battery were retrospectively obtained from the electronic medical records of each participant. The prevalence of APD was estimated using the total number of students enrolled in the same school attended by each participant in the 2011 academic year as cohort. Results: The prevalence of APD was 1.94 per 1,000 children in this study. We found that prevalence of APD among the children who attended private schools was more than two times higher than the children who attended public schools. The results also revealed that the majority of children referred to the clinics were Caucasian (85.6%), whereas minority groups were underrepresented for this geographical area with only 3.7% of Hispanic or Latino children and 5.8% of Black or African American children. Conclusions: The estimated prevalence of APD in the current study was lower than the previously published estimates. The difference might be due to the diagnosis criteria of APD among studies as well as the use of school enrollment number as the referenced population to estimate prevalence in our study. We also found a significant difference in APD prevalence depending on the school types. The findings of higher prevalence rates among the children attending private schools and higher proportion of Caucasians children referred for APD evaluation suggest that more children among those in public schools and in the Hispanic and African American groups should have been referred for an APD evaluation. Hence, the current estimate is likely an underestimate of the actual APD prevalence. The low percentage of Hispanic or African American children referred to the clinic for APD evaluations may be related to the socioeconomic status and linguistic differences among the concerned families. The results of this study raise the importance of adapting the APD test battery for children with a different linguistic background as well as increasing awareness of available clinical resources to all families in our area.

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The Upside to One Urban District’s School Closings: African Americans Achieve in Income Balanced Schools

Education and Urban Society ◽

10.1177/0013124518819758 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 52 (2) ◽

pp. 194-214

Author(s):

Vanessa Garry ◽

Susan Uchitelle

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Public Schools ◽

English Language ◽

African American Children ◽

Transfer Program ◽

Reform Initiatives ◽

School Closings ◽

Declining Enrollment ◽

American Children ◽

Interdistrict Transfer

In 2003, in an effort to address St. Louis Public Schools’ (SLPS’) declining enrollment and debt, the interim superintendent closed 16 schools. In 2016, more than a decade since the school closings, the enrollment dwindled from 44,000 students to half that number. This study is an examination of the closed schools to determine if displaced African American children from the shuttered schools were better off as a result of attending the replacement schools. The findings suggest SLPS’ replacement schools were not better than the shuttered schools as was predicted in the SLPS 2003 Plan. Instead, we found displaced African American children who attended income imbalanced SLPS and charter schools in St. Louis had fewer children proficient on the state’s English Language Arts (ELA) assessment than their peers who participated in the Voluntary Interdistrict Transfer Program (VITP). The implications of these findings in the use of school closings as reform initiatives are discussed.

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The Effect of Examiner's Race on the Performance of African American Children on the SCAN

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.3102.116 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 116-125 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Tina T. Smith ◽

Tamala Bradham ◽

Leah Chandler ◽

Christina Wells

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Auditory Processing ◽

Grade Level ◽

Learning Effect ◽

Dependent Measure ◽

African American Children ◽

Anglo American ◽

American Children ◽

Language Measures ◽

Examiner Race

Purpose: With African American children, processingdependent central auditory nervous system (CANS) tests, such as the Screening Test for Auditory Processing Disorders (SCAN) (Keith, 1986), may be less culturally biased than traditional knowledge-dependent standardized language measures. Keith found that African American children received lower scores on the SCAN than did Anglo American children. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether middle-class African American children might improve their SCAN performance when tested by an African American versus an Anglo American examiner. Method: The SCAN was administered twice to 47 African American children, ages 5–10 years. Half of the participants were tested by an African American examiner first and then by an Anglo American examiner, with the order of testing counterbalanced for the remaining half of the participants. Data were also analyzed by grade level. Results: A 2 (examiner race) x 3 (grade level) analysis of variance did not reveal a significant effect for examiner race, but did show a main effect for grade level on certain SCAN subtests; however, effect size results revealed that the magnitude of differences between mean scores on the Competing Words subtest and the composite score were large enough to be potentially significant. Results also indicated a significant learning effect. Clinical Implications: Although examiner race did not appear to influence SCAN performance for this group of children, the possibility of a race effect needs further investigation with a larger sample, as does the clinical utility of the SCAN as a processing-dependent measure. The significant learning effect also suggests potential problems with the test-retest reliability of the SCAN.

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Predominantly Black Institutions and Public Montessori Schools: Reclaiming the “Genius” in African American Children

Multicultural Learning and Teaching ◽

10.1515/mlt-2017-0007 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jamilah R. Jor’dan

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Public Schools ◽

The United States ◽

African American Children ◽

Educational Approach ◽

Predominantly Black ◽

Montessori Education ◽

Montessori Schools ◽

Black Institutions ◽

American Children

AbstractThere are more than 22,000 Montessori schools in over 100 countries worldwide. Beginning in the 1950s the American Montessori movement was primarily a private pre-school movement. There are more than 5,000 schools in the United States; over 500 of these are public. Montessori schools are an increasingly popular choice in the U.S. for public school districts looking to improve their educational outcomes. Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs) can play a pivotal role by integrating Montessori education within their teacher preparation programs. As the demand for Montessori education increases there will be a need for more highly-qualified, culturally and linguistically diverse teachers who have the appropriate credentials and can implement the Montessori approach. Scientific research confirms that children who attend Montessori schools are advantaged academically, socially and emotionally. Communities such as Milwaukee and Chicago are now implementing Montessori education through public schools as part of school reform efforts making the educational approach more accessible to African American children.

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Performance of Working Class African-American Children on Three Tests of Articulation

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.2103.171 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 171-176 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Patricia A. Cole ◽

Orlando L. Taylor

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Working Class ◽

African American Children ◽

American Children

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Final Consonant Deletion in African American Children Speaking Black English

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.2403.161 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 161-166 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Michael J. Moran

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Black English ◽

African American Children ◽

Vowel Length ◽

Minimal Pairs ◽

Speech Evaluation ◽

American Children

The purpose of this study was to determine whether African American children who delete final consonants mark the presence of those consonants in a manner that might be overlooked in a typical speech evaluation. Using elicited sentences from 10 African American children from 4 to 9 years of age, two studies were conducted. First, vowel length was determined for minimal pairs in which final consonants were deleted. Second, listeners who identified final consonant deletions in the speech of the children were provided training in narrow transcription and reviewed the elicited sentences a second time. Results indicated that the children produced longer vowels preceding "deleted" voiced final consonants, and listeners perceived fewer deletions following training in narrow transcription. The results suggest that these children had knowledge of the final consonants perceived to be deleted. Implications for assessment and intervention are discussed.

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