What is the difference between pathological auditory processing delays and underdeveloped listening skills? I have been asking myself this for weeks now.

As of this writing, my son is 9 years old. He is diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a very mild, high-functioning form of autism, as well as attention deficity hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and sensory integration dysfunction. He used to quite a bit less mild, and I think there are still many social subtleties with which he struggles – indeed, with which he may always struggle, but after four years of homeschooling and actively working on his social skills and expanding his understanding of things like sarcasm and idioms and chit chat and social etiquette, his pediatrician (the father of a profoundly autistic daughter himself, and pediatrician to dozens of children on the spectrum) says he believes that my son no longer qualifies for the Asperger’s/HFA label. His diagnosis is now PDD-NOS with “severe” hyperactivity and mild attention deficit.

It is true that my son is not nearly as impaired with his social understanding as he was a few years ago. However, he still struggles with may attention difficulties, especially in the retention of information that he has heard. After running a few preliminary tests, his previous physical therapist told me that he did not exhibit any signs of having any kind of auditory processing delays, but I was dubious about this conclusion. This is a child that watches television with the closed captioning on so that “I don’t miss any of the words”; he often asks me to repeat things over and over; sometimes he will, when asked to do something in the next room, go to that room, and return, asking “I’m sorry – what did you want me to do again?” He was often not able to answer basic questions about a passage we just read out loud. Something was going on; I just wasn’t sure what. Now, I am taking him to an audiologist this month to rule out physiological issues, but he passes every hearing screening with flying colors, and in fact, has eavesdropped on whispered conversation from the other side of the house. I seriously doubt he has any kind of hearing loss. Still – the fact remains, he does not retain or even appear to catch much of what he hears.

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