Hello! Welcome to my very, first Weblog! My name is Megan. I am 12 years old. I was diagnosed with Central Auditory Processing Disorder a couple of years ago. It’s a disorder that causes my brain to think slower than other people my age. My brain is unable to take in information as quickly or as easily as everyone else’s brain does. I had a rough time living with my disorder for a long time, but I’m getting use to it now.

People use to look at me funny or make fun of me. I hated when people would treat me badly, just because I’m a little bit different. I’m not that different from every one else my age. I enjoy a lot of the same things that they do. I love to ride my bike, swim, and go to the movies.

Before my mom and I found out what is wrong with me, we traveling all over the place to see doctors. Once, I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, ADD. I know you know what that is because half the kids in my class have ADD. CAPD is kinda like ADD. They have similar symptoms, which is why I was diagnosed with ADD in the first place. If you know someone with ADD then you may understand what I was like before getting help. I was restless, easily frustrated, had a short attention span, and never paid much attention to what people would say to me. I didn’t do those things on purpose; I really couldn’t help the way I acted. ADD and CAPD may have similar symptoms, but the disorders and their therapies are very different.

Unlike ADD, CAPD cannot be helped with Ritalin. I took Ritalin for a little while, but I hated it. I felt like a zombie on the stuff. Thankfully, I have a mom who really cares for me and knew that the pills weren’t working. She took me off the pills and searched for more options about what we could do to help my disorder. That’s when we met a doctor who sent me to have hearing tests. The ear doctor told me that I have CAPD and we have been working to help me deal with it for a while now.

I work with a speech teacher at school. She is so nice and friendly. I love it when I get to go to her class. We do exercises that will help me do better in my regular classes at school. Sometimes, the speech teacher gives me candy. I love it when she gives me candy. My speech teacher is the one that told me to create this weblog. I told her about how everyone treats me like I’m weird and that I didn’t like it. She said that it is because no one really understands what it is like to have CAPD. She said that I should create a weblog to explain what it’s like to live with my disorder. She said that if I worked really hard on it that we would show it to my class and maybe they wouldn’t treat me differently. She has been helping me a lot with it. She has given me all sorts of things to put in it and has helped me put them onto the computer.

Several of the things that I have included within my weblog will give you a better understanding about what it is like to be me, my family, and even my speech teacher; to live with or around CAPD.

I have a really good friend that is going to school to be a speech teacher. Her name is Valerie, but everyone calls her Val. She’s my brother’s girlfriend. She is really nice to me. She also has a weblog. Her weblog talks about the different things that she likes. If you would like to look at her weblog, click Val's Webliography.

I wrote a poem that tells everyone what it was like to visit doctor after doctor, waiting for someone to tell you what is wrong with you. It was a really rough time in my life. I remember getting so aggravated and frustrated. My mom did too. I read it to my class and they seemed to like it. My teacher told me that it was the best poem that she heard in years. If you want to read my poem, click poem. It is a really personal poem and I am really proud of it. Usually, I wouldn’t let strangers read my poems, but if it might cause you to treat me or someone like me better than it is worth it. I hope you like it.

There is a computer program called Fast Forword. The link connects you to a copy of the presentation that they make to try to sale the progam. This program is suppose to really help people with CAPD. I tried it for a little while and really liked it. The games and activities were really fun. But mom said that it was too expensive and things weren’t going as well with the program as she had hoped for. She said that we might try the program some other time, maybe when I get a little older, or we get more money.

Here is the Newsletter that my mom gets. This newsletter is for an organization called PCC. It is for parents with children of CAPD. I love this organization. I don’t care much for the newsletter, but I love when mom goes to a meeting or something. There are always a lot of kids around that are my age and we get to do all sorts of fun things. The best part is that all the kids like me for me. They have CAPD too so they don’t think that I’m weird. I love when I get to hand out with them.

My speech teacher let me have one of her Lesson Plans to put on my weblog. She said that it is important to let everyone get a good idea about the sorts of things that we do in therapy.

Here’s a Letter from my speech teacher to my mom. This is when I first started working with my speech teacher. She was trying to see if my mom wanted to come to school to visit with us. She did. Mom stopped by school one day and worked with me and my speech teacher. We had a lot of fun that day. It was fun at the time, but now mom talks to my speech teacher all the time. My speech teacher tells my mom when I’m not doing anything in class and I get in trouble. Sometimes mom makes me do some of the stuff that I work on in speech class at home. I don’t like that, but if it will make me better sooner than it is ok.

That is all of the stuff that I have in my weblog. I hope that you enjoyed it and I hoped you learned more about CAPD. I really hope that you will be nicer to people that you met that are a little bit different from you because you viewed my weblog. I hope to add things to this page soon. See ya later!! Have a good day!!

And remember to be nice to everyone!!

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To view reflection for MRP, click Reflection.

To view references for MRP, click References.

This genre is a newsletter created by and for parents who have children with Central Auditory Processing Disorder. It contains information, inspiration, and fun activies for parents of children with CAPD to get involved with.This was a fun little piece that I created so that people could get a deeper understanding and appreciate for people who have disorders. I tried to give this genre a reality aspect. I wanted you, the viewer, to realize that people who have or live with disorders have real lives. I wanted you to realize that these children do things and have fun because they have parents who care for them. I wanted you to also realize that although these children may be treated badly by their some of their peers, they have parents who try to let them live in a hate-free enviroment. This is my favorite genre that I created for this project. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. To view my newsletter, click Here.

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Cacace, Anthony T.; McFarland, Dennis J. (April, 1998), Central Auditory Processing Disorder in School-Aged Children: A Critical Review, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, p. 355 (From Masterfile: EBSCO Publishing) Retrieved July 12, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/

Friel-Patti, Sandy. (October 1999), Clinical Decision-Making in the Assessment and Intervention of Central Auditory Processing, Language, Speech, & Hearing Services in Schools, p. 345 (From Masterfile: EBSCO Publishing) Retrieved July 15, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/

Greenwald, John. (July 1999), Retraining Your Brain, Time, p.52 (From Masterfile: EBSCO Publishing) Retrieved July 15, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/

Hynd, George W.; Riccio, Cynthia A. (July 1994), Comorbidity of Central Auditory Processing Disorder and Attention Deficit, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, p. 849 (From Masterfile: EBSCO Publishing) Retrieved July 15, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/

Ince, Susan. (May 2001), What Every Parent Must Know about Attention Deficit, Family Life, p. 60 (From Masterfile: EBSCO Publishing) Retrieved July 15, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/

Katz, Jack; Keller, Warren D.; Tillery, Kim L. (August, 2000), Effects of Methylphenidate (Ritalin) on Auditory Performance in Children with Attention and Auditory Processing Disorders, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, p. 893 (From Masterfile: EBSCO Publishing) Retrieved July 12, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/

Keith, Robert W. (October, 1999), Clinical Issues in Central Processing Disorders, Language, Speech, & Hearing Services in Schools, p. 339 (From Masterfile: EBSCO Publishing) Retrieved July 12, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/

Madall, Jane R. (October 1999), Auditory Integration Training: One Clinician’s View, Language, Speech, & Hearing Services in Schools, p. 371 (From Masterfile: EBSCO Publishing) Retrieved July 15, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/

Riccio, Cynthia A. (September, 1996), Validity of the Auditory Continuous Performance Test in Differentiating Central Processing Auditory Disorders with and without ADHD, Journal of Learning Disabilities, p. 561 (From Masterfile: EBSCO Publishing) Retrieved July 12, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/

Scientific Learning. (2002). Fast Forword: Family of Programs. Retrieved July 12, 2002 from World Wide Web: http://scientificlearning.com/

Thompson, Maureen. (May, 2002), Coding Options for Central Auditory Processing, ASHA Leader, p. 3 (From Masterfile: EBSCO Publishing) Retrieved July 12, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/

Thanks for viewing my weblog!! I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you will come back soon!!

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