[Auditory processing maturation in children with and without learning difficulties]

Auditory processing maturation in school children with and without learning difficulties.

To verify response improvement with the increase in age of the auditory processing skills in school children with ages ranging from eight to ten years, with and without learning difficulties and to perform a comparative study.

Eighty-nine children without learning complaints (Group 1) and 60 children with learning difficulties (Group II) were assessed. The used auditory processing tests were: Pediatric Speech Intelligibility (PSI), Speech in Noise, Dichotic Non-Verbal (DNV) and Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW).

A better performance was observed for Group I between the ages of eight and ten in all of the used tests. However, the observed differences were statistically significant only for PSI and SSW. For Group II, a better performance was also observed with the increase in age, with statistically significant differences for all of the used tests. Comparing the results between Groups I and II, a better performance was verified for children with no learning difficulties, in the three age groups, in PSI, DNV and SSW.

A statistically significant improvement was verified in the responses of the auditory processing with the increase in age, for the ages between eight and ten years, in children with and without learning difficulties. In the comparative study, it was verified that children with learning difficulties presented a lower performance in all of the used tests in the three age groups. This suggests, for this group, a delay in the maturation of the auditory processing skills.