Auditory learning disabilities and emotional disturbance: Diagnostic differences

Abstract

Children with auditory learning disabilities are typically characterized by teachers as inattentive, unaware, limited in ability to comprehend or follow directions, and often giving irrelevant responses. Their difficulties with auditory language processing tend to be viewed as symptoms of poor attitude, lack of motivation, or emotional disturbance. This paper is concerned with an identification of conceptual functioning as an avenue of differentiating between auditory processing problems and primary ego development difficulties within the context of appropriate instructional/remediation strategies. A number of parameters were investigated with normal control children, and the data were analyzed in terms of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance. The results indicated that auditory processing difficulties and ego dysfunctions are dissimilar problems along the dimension of conceptualization; the Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement (KTSA) was able to significantly distinguish between auditory learning disabled and emotionally involved children; and differential educational strategies are clearly indicated.