Helping Your Child with Auditory Processing Disorder Better Understand Social Cues

Authored By Elise Weinstein, M.S. CCC-SLP, Speech Therapist at The Village Therapy Place

Does your child have difficulty understanding what he hears? 

Does he understand the general message but miss the person’s intent? 

Does he have trouble understanding social cues?  

 

Today’s Tuesday Tidbit: How auditory processing disorder can affect temporal aspects of speech and some strategies for you to help your child.  

“Temporal aspects of speech” refers to prosodic cues that can impact sentence meaning, such as stress, intonation patterns, and pausing. These cues are utilized to: 

  • Form Questions  

Rising intonation at the end of an utterance switches it from a statement (You want one.) to a question (You want one?).  

  

  • Show Emphasis 

Stressing a word in a sentence provides emphasis to that word. “Johnny went to the store to buy milk”- focuses on the item. “Johnny went to the store to buy milk”- focuses on who is out of the house now.  

  

  • Denote Sarcasm 

The difference between a genuine and sarcastic “really?” is all detected through prosody/intonation patterns. “Really?” said with rising intonation at the end is usually a genuine response, while “really?” said with emphasis on the first syllable and no rising intonation is usually a sarcastic response.  

  

  • Humor and Irony 

“It’s all about the timing.” We’ve all heard that timing is so important for delivering a good joke or comedic line, because timing/durational aspects of speech (pausing, emphasis, intonation patterns) have a big impact on humor and irony. 

So how can you target these skills with your child? 

  • Sentence Vs. Question 

Some sentences become questions merely by changing the intonation pattern used. Can your child change a question to a statement (or a statement to a question) by only changing his prosody? Alternatively, can your child detect if you are making a statement vs. asking a question? 

  

Sample Sentences: 

  • You need one? vs. You need one. 

  • I should go? vs. I should go. 

  • Billy spilled the milk? vs. Billy spilled the milk. 

  

  • Emphasis  

Practice emphasizing different words in the same sentence in response to different “wh” questions. Alternatively, can your child figure out what question was asked if you state the response (e.g. “Sara went to the park to play soccer this morning”- the question was asking who went.)  

  

Sample: 

  • Sentence: Sara went to the park to play soccer this morning. 

  • Who went to the park? Sara went to the park to play soccer this morning. 

  • What did Sara do play at the park? Sara went to the park to play soccer this morning. 

  • Where did Sara go? Sara went to the park to play soccer this morning. 

  • When did Sara go? Sara went to the park to play soccer this morning. 

  • Why did Sara go to the park? Sara went to the park to play soccer this morning. 

  

  • Practice Understanding and Telling Jokes 

A lot of humor relies on intonation cues, so practicing telling jokes is a great way to work on understanding and using temporal aspects of speech correctly.  

  

Example Jokes: 

  • Where do cows go on Saturday night? To the moooovies.  

  • Why was the cookie sad? Because his mom was a wafer too long.  

Both of these jokes rely on the delivering the punchline with the correct prosody. If the child says “to the movies” without elongating the “oo” sound, the joke is less funny. Similarly, if the child says “away for” instead of “a wafer,” the joke does not sound funny. 

Who We Are:

We, at The Village Therapy Place, located in Wyckoff, NJ- in Bergen County-aim to provide integrative, neurodevelopmental, individualized, pediatric therapy in a warm, fun, and collaborative environment. 

We offer pediatric services that include physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, feeding therapy, and DIR Floortime.  

 At The Village Therapy Place, we utilize current and evidence-based treatment techniques to help treat your child during his PT, OT, speech therapy, feeding therapy and DIR Floortime session. These include sensory integration, reflex integration, therapeutic listening, Kinesiotape, craniosacral therapy, NDT, BrainGym, feeding therapy, PROMPT, to name a few. 

Our expert pediatric therapists offer a variety of treatment options, including 30/45/60 minute sessions, group classes, at home sessions and virtual therapy to best suit your child’s needs. 

 The pediatric physical therapists, occupational therapists & speech therapists at The Village Therapy Place are in constant contact with a child's caregivers to facilitate lasting change. 

Call us today at (201) 201-8220 or email us at office@thevillagetherapyplace.com to speak with a pediatric expert who truly cares! 

 

Faigy SzanzerThe Village Therapy Place