Many children with learning and behavioral problems are found to have hearing problem as well. Even though there may be no hearing loss as such, there may be a processing problem in the absence of a hearing loss.
Hearing loss and processing problems must be evaluated as separate issues, although they may be closely related. Children with learning disabilities often show signs of auditory processing difficulties. These may present as:
auditory inattentiveness,
lack of ready response to auditory input,
poor auditory memory,
problems with phonics or with spelling, or
a speech and language delay or disorder.
This kind of auditory processing problem may be at the root of the difficulties of about 40% of children with learning difficulties, although the percentage is believed by some researchers to be as high as 80%.
A percentage of children with poor auditory processing may also show a hyper-sensitivity to sound. They may:
over-react to common noises
be distressed by classroom sounds
cover their ears
retreat from crowds
be aggressive
have tantrums in shopping centers
“act as if deaf” which is a behavior of tuning-out painful sound
If your child shows any of the above symptoms than i would recommend Auditory Integration Training (AIT). AIT is a 10 day educational intervention that is done at home for 10 consecutive days with having your child listen to modulated music for 2 one half hour sessions per day (3 hours min time in between sessions).