The application of the screening questionnaires for the diagnostics of the central auditory processing disorders in the pediatric practice

Abstract

Identification and diagnostics of auditory processing disorders (APD) in the children continues to be a challenge. Screening tools help to decide the need for evaluation. However, none of them are used routinely in Russia, nor are there thus far auditory checklist questionnaires in the Russian language. The aim of his study was to approve Children's Auditory Performance Scale (CHAPS) and Fisher's Auditory Checklist in Russian for the children at the age of 5-10 years. The study included 52 children at the age from 5 to 11 years. All of them were native Russian speakers. Pure tone audiometry, immitancemetry, and the Simplified RuMatrix test were performed for all the children. All of them had normal hearing thresholds, speech and language development, and normal academic achievement at school. The parents filled in the CHAPS and Fisher's Auditory Checklist questionnaires in Russian. The mean value of Fisher's Auditory Checklist was 85.7 ± 9.3, the mean value of CHAPS questionnaire was equal to 0.08 ± 0.26. The results obtained with the use of the Russian language questionnaires are in excellent agreement with the test data yielded by the respective English language versions. It is recommended that the clinical assessment for APD should be performed for children with the result of the Fisher questionnaire less than 67 points and with the result of the CHAPS questionnaire less than -1 point. It is concluded that Fisher's questionnaire was more convenient for the parents to fill in.