Intro
New Zealand Guidelines on Auditory Processing Disorder
The New Zealand Guidelines on Auditory Processing Disorder are intended to provide guidance to clinicians, public agencies, the wider community of professionals who need to know about auditory processing disorder (APD), and people with APD and their families.
Links
NZ APD Guidelines Summary General
For consumers and their families
NZ APD Guidelines Summary Education
For professionals in education, psychology and speech-language
NZ APD Guidelines Summary Medical
For medical practitioners, especially paediatricians and GPs
Complete and Summary versions of the Guidelines can be downloaded from the APD page of the NZ Audiological Society website at the link below.
Checklist of APD symptoms and commonly related conditions
A checklist of key symptoms of APD and commonly related conditions that can be used to identify individuals who should be referred for APD assessment, as recommended in the NZ Guidelines.
Formal Content about Guidelines
The New Zealand Guidelines on Auditory Processing Disorder are intended to provide guidance to clinicians, educators, public agencies, the wider community of professionals who need to know about auditory processing disorder (APD), and people with APD and their families. The Guidelines are evidence-based and internationally peer-reviewed and emphasise practical guidance for clinicians involved in diagnosing and treating children with APD. Some information about APD in adults is also included.
- multi-disciplinary approach with audiologists responsible for diagnosis and case management
- referral checklist of symptoms and predisposing comorbidities
- selected diagnostic tests recommended from a review of more than 50 tests of auditory processing
- summary of tests and screening instruments suitable for assessing auditory skills in children under age six
- guidance for assessment of children with comorbidities including other hearing disorders
- suggested tools for assessment or screening of related developmental capacities in children (language, cognition, attention, visual processing)
- recommended questionnaires assessing auditory processing and listening difficulties in children and adults, and coping abilities in learning situations
- recommended evidence-based treatments
- unsubstantiated alternative treatments to avoid
- WHO ICF functional disability approach with recognition of client protections under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD)
- highlighted recommendations and key points.
The NZ Guidelines on APD are rated by the Center for Evidence Based Practice of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association as Highly Recommended according to the AGREE appraisal system. AGREE (Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation) is a framework consisting of 23 criteria across six domains (e.g., rigour of development, stakeholder involvement) designed to evaluate the applicability, currency, comprehensiveness, and methodological rigour of clinical guidelines. The highest rating is Highly Recommended.
Formal Content about Guidelines Credits
Authors:
William Keith QSO, PhD, MNZAS (Convenor), Suzanne Purdy PhD, MNZAS, Melissa Baily MAud, MNZAS, Flora Kay MAud, MNZAS
International peer reviewers:
Doris-Eva Bamiou MD, MSc, FRCP, PhD, Professor in Neuroaudiology, UCL (University College London), Ear Institute and NIHR BRC Hearing & Deafness, London, United Kingdom
Benoît Jutras PhD, Professeur titulaire, École d’orthophonie et d’audiologie, Université de Montréal, Canada
Robert W. Keith PhD, Professor Emeritus – ENT and CSD, University of Cincinnati, U.S.A.
Wayne Wilson PhD, AudSA CCP, Associate Professor, Head of the Discipline of Audiology, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Queensland, Australia
Launch of the New Zealand Guidelines on Auditory Processing Disorder
Launch of the New Zealand Guidelines on Auditory Processing Disorder
Auditory processing disorder may be a specialised area of communication disorders but more than 80 people turned out for the official launch of the New Zealand Guidelines on Auditory Processing Disorder hosted by the Eisdell Moore Hearing and Balance Research Centre at the University of Auckland. Participants included audiologists, speech-language therapists, ENT surgeons, hearing research scientists, consumers, and special education teachers.
Kāumatua Piripi Daniels opened and closed the event, and blessed the Guidelines as a taonga (treasure) that will benefit the tamariki (children) of Aotearoa (New Zealand) for years to come.
Other guest speakers included Professor Peter Thorne, Director of the Eisdell Moore Centre; Libby Gibbins, President of the NZ Audiological Society; Leonie Wilson-Kilby, Chair of APD support group Hear 4 Families APD NZ; and the Ministry of Education’s Director of Learning Support, Dr David Wales.
Messages of greetings and congratulations came from the peer reviewers in the UK, Canada, USA and Australia.
Guidelines co-authors Dr Bill Keith and Professor Suzanne Purdy spoke about the Guidelines and some of their current APD research.
Dr Purdy began with a Māori whakataukī (proverb) about perseverance, a reference to the three year journey involved in writing the Guidelines, and ended with a whakataukī about a fledgling bird, a reference to the journey the Guidelines will now embark on as they take wing and influence APD service development.