Parents! Here’s Your Guide to Help Your Kid(s) With APD:

All parents are awesome. They have super powers when it comes to just about EVERYTHING. Parents with kids with learning disabilities (like APD) are just unbelievable. They have to be very strong, very supportive, very understanding, and very helpful. These parents also stress a lot about their “different” child. A majority of my readers are parents with kids going through APD. These parents are awesome first of all… They also may not know everything about APD yet, and feel like they’re not doing enough to help. Well parents, I’m here to help you understand your child who has APD through some of my DAILY conversations and interactions I have with my parents and adults around me (like teachers). I am going to explain things I appreciate and some things I wish my parents wouldn’t do. My goal is for you to open your eyes after going over these tips I have for you and use them to help yourself and your beloved kid(s)!

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Situation One: It is very helpful when my parents, my counselor, and my teachers make sure they understand what I understand or may not understand. For this to happen, there needs to be two questions they need to use. 1. Do you understand? –This question allows me to recognize they are giving me the OK to ask for a repeat. It also lets me know they are going to be patient if I don’t understand. A lot of times at school I’ll be talking to my teacher or counselor one-on-one and they will ask me this. If I say “Yes, I understand” The BEST teachers ask the second question. 2. Okay, what did I just explain/say? Or Okay, what do you need to do? –A majority of the time I will answer wrong. I thought I knew what they explained to me, but I find out it isn’t right. That second question might feel awkward, but it’s a BIG help parents! Sometimes when they ask the second question I’ll straight up tell them “I didn’t understand” Asking these two questions also gives me comfort that it’s OK to talk to them and let them know I don’t understand. It also allows me repeat it again to process it better the second time. So parents.…Ask ask ask! Ask for yourself and your child. It will mean a lot to them! 

Situation Two: I have an older brother and he ALWAYS talks over me. For instance... My mom will be helping me with homework and while I’m trying to process what she is talking about my brother will say “Mom?” and my mom will reply and turn to him, in the middle of explaining! That’s a no-no… Because she stopped explaining in the middle of what she was talking about I have totally lost control of what I am processing now. I have a bunch of thoughts running in my head, but they’re all mixed up and I can’t make sense of it. This just makes me want to scream. I get very frustrated. Parents, don’t do this to your kids. If it does anything it hurts them. –One, I feel ignored and less important every time this happens (like what does my brother have to say that’s so much more important than understanding some homework?). – Two, now I am frustrated and I’m processing why I’m frustrated and annoyed instead of trying to stay focused on my homework and process that. – Three, I will not be able to make sense of only half of what she is saying. I will get confused and it can be overwhelming in my head. – Four, it’s a distraction!! – So parents, finish what you’re explaining and make sure your child understands it before you turn to someone else.

Situation Three: I appreciate it very much when my parents reward me for all my hard work I’ve put in… This can include grades, sports, being tough through a social situation, and just never giving up. Even if I don’t get good grades, or I do bad in a game, or I get hurt by a friend they know I work hard. When I do excel though, that’s a plus! A recent one example of this happened maybe a week and a half ago. My field hockey team elects one junior and one senior captain each year (while the junior captain from the last year is already a captain). I was not picked. I was a little sad, but not too sad. I knew it was coming because I don’t have all the communication skills like other kids have. After a game one day, my coach pulled me aside and told me how he is going to elect me as another junior captain because he really thinks I am a born leader. I was super excited, and told my mom and dad. That night my parents rewarded me by taking me out to dinner. They let me pick where, and we celebrated. A more recent time than that my dad gave me some money to buy school clothes because he knows I work very hard and I don’t give up. This to me feels so good. I don’t always get rewarded for my hard work, but when I do I feel even more motivated to keep up the hard work. It boosts my confidence level high. This makes me feel like I’m a good person and am doing the right things. Even a meaningful “Great job!” can help a lot. – So parents, please reward your kids’ hard work every once in awhile. That “little” reward can go a long way.

Situation Four: When I am doing homework all by myself and I’m really focused in, I don’t like to be bothered.. This is what my mom calls “Hyper-Focused”. My mom can pick it up better than my dad. I don’t want to be bothered. That’s it. Don’t talk to me unless I have a question. If I’m bothered, I can get distracted and my thoughts in my head will get all jumbled up and I’ll have to re-think what I was doing. My dad sometimes says, “Anna! Look at this article when you get done.” HOW annoying, dad… Now I have to take a moment and be annoyed THEN get back to my aching homework. For APD kids, homework takes a lot longer to complete than a kid without APD. Distractions simply just add more time. What a parent could do in this situation to help is write a note that says “If you need any help, I’ll be upstairs/on the couch/reading my book”. THAT’S what would help. For me this would be wonderful. That’s what I would want my mom to do in that situation because she wouldn’t be making any background noise…Just putting a “reminder” next to me if I am stuck and need a helping hand. – So parents, try to recognize when you’re child doesn’t want to be bothered during homework and give them some space! 

Situation Five: While we are on the topic of distractions, here is one distraction I dislike very much. The television. If you’re child studies in the same room as your television, sacrifice the T.V and not your child’s learning. The T.V is one of the most annoying devices during homework. Nothing gets accomplished. Step 1: Point. Step 2: Push the power button to OFF Step 3: Feel good that it will benefit your child’s homework time tremendously. If my dad wants to watch T.V, he knows to go upstairs (Dad, if you didn’t know, now you know! Haha), or he reads the paper. The T.V just puts more words into my head while trying to think while doing homework. So parents, Shut the television off. Sorry =D

Situation Six: Parents, please raise your hand if you wonder every night how much your child with APD doesn’t understand at dinner time? A majority of you are probably raising your hand, right? Well I’m here to fix this! I get completely LOST at dinner. The conversations are usually about work, the news, or other things I cannot connect with. My brother talks a lot at dinner.. Then my parents talk with him, too…. This is what goes on in my head…”Hello?! I’m still here! I have APD so I don’t know what to say in this conversation and I really don’t understand so can we please talk about something else? (Moments later) Whatever… I’ll just keep eating my delicious spaghetti and pretend it doesn’t bother me.” I know it’s really hard sometimes to talk about something everyone can talk about, but parents don’t just sit there wondering what your child is not understanding. Change the subject to something your son or daughter can talk about. I feel like at dinner I don’t have a voice. I eat, I drink my milk, I say a few things, and then I go put my dishes away and go do homework. Ask, “What do you want to talk about? You’ve been quiet. Any exciting news?” You know that situation all you parents hate hearing when your kids get home.. The one that goes, “I didn’t know what all my friends were talking about today and I felt left out. I just stood there and tried to understand” Well parents, you are those friends if you don’t include your kids at dinner. I can’t remember a single dinner conversation at all, because I don’t fully understand dinner conversations, or I just don’t know what to say to the boring topic! – So parents, ask your kid(s) if they can remember the last dinner conversation and let me know what they say. So spice your dinner up and ask your child some questions so they can be fully part of the dinner conversation. You’re doing great so far!

Situation Seven: When my parents don’t allow me to hangout with friends, I get so frustrated. Why? I rarely get these opportunities outside of school hours! Think about it… You want your child to have as many friends as they can possibly have. You want your child to practice those social situations. But you’re scared something’s going to happen, right? Don’t be scared. Be worried.. But, being worried and not allowing your child to go out is nuts. Being worried and allowing them to go out is better. If something happens it will only make your child stronger. I’ve had LOTS happen to me. I’ve been ditched, I’ve been screamed at, I’ve been out of the loop, and I’ve been picked on a lot!!!!! BUT, because I’ve been through all that I’m a strong person. It’s a very strange and confusing concept but it’s true. I know who to stay away from and I know who the good friends are very well now. If you keep your son or daughter away from that forever, they won’t know till they’re older who the good friends are and who the bad people are. That’s when it could hurt the most. It’s also a self-esteem thing. “I’m out with friends, doing what all kids my age do.” – So parents, It’s okay to be worried, but don’t be worried and keep your child back from a missed opportunity.

Situation Eight: Let’s talk about joking.. Wait, when are you joking? I cannot tell when my parents are joking or not. A lot of times I get upset and try giving them a look like “Please stop, I don’t get it”, but they never pick it up. Also, I take everything sort of seriously with my parents. I’m trying to “seriously” understand and process what you are saying, so I’m going to take you “seriously”. I think all kids with APD can say they don’t pick up sarcasm.. It’s embarrassing. I usually don’t show that I’m embarrassed with my parents, but instead get snappy. Like “Yeah, thanks…” And I am upset and hurt... I don’t have a sarcasm/joking radar gun. –So parents, try not to use too much sarcasm that your APD child might interoperate as being mean.

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I hope all the parents that read this very lengthy blog has picked up some tips to use back in their home. Help your children and then you’ll help yourself. If you have any questions PLEASE email me: apdwarrior17@gmail.com – Don’t hesitate to ask. If I get enough questions, I will put out a Parent FAQ! Thanks for reading! 

– apdwarrior17

Cliques: It’s not that I don’t belong anywhere; It’s just that I belong everywhere

Definition for Cliques: A small exclusive group of people. I go to a small public school. We are ranked 162 in the nation. Sometimes I wonder if it’s because we have so many cliques. I wouldn’t call all of them cliques, but we have a lot of groups and differences at our school. Yet no one can accept all those differences. We have:

1. The Jocks – The gifted athletic kids
2. The Sport Teams – Knowing friends through sport teams

3. The Preps – The girls who dress perfect every day, there make-up is perfect, and their hair is pretty
4. The Nerds – The smart kids who try SUPER hard in school and it’s very Important for them to get good grades
5. The Gothic’s – The kids who don’t say much, you can tell they have some anxiety, and wear dark clothing.
6. The Musical Kids – Love playing in band and/or orchestra.
7. The Artistic group – Photography, drawing, and artwork is their passion
8. The Drama Club – The kids who succeed in acting and musicals
9. The Druggies – Well, the kids who do drugs
10. The “Mean” Girls – Always gossiping about other kids, and are getting mad at their own friends 

I’m a jock. I’ve always been an athletic girl. I’m on a sport team--Field hockey. I can be preppy. I like to wear my best clothes, wear makeup, and style my hair. I’m a nerd. I try SUPER hard in school to get good grades. I’m Artistic. I love photography, and love artwork. I can also relate to the Gothic kids. I have anxiety over my Auditory Processing Disorder. So why do I feel like I’m only one going from group to group? Why do I feel like I am never fully in one specific group? Here are my reasons: 

1. All groups have drama.. Some groups more than others. I NEVER know what is going on when there’s drama in the air. I only try to figure it out because I want to be included in the conversations, and I want to well… Know what’s going on because everyone but ME knows. I’ve learned not to worry about it, but I find myself kind of parting from that group for a little bit when that happens. When there’s drama, that’s the only thing they will talk about for a while. 

2. I’m not the best at staying tuned to who is doing what, or who just said something really funny. Little things like that can go a long way for me. I get very frustrated with myself. I can literally feel myself trying the hardest I can, but when I still don’t understand, frustration swarms me. So… Not knowing things in conversations can give me nothing to say back. This makes me feel not completely “in” the group. 

3. My thinking speed is slower than most of my friends’ thinking speeds. This makes my friends say something before I can even think what I’m about to say. If I get asked a question, “Anna, what time is the football game at?” Most likely one of my friends will answer even though they were asking me specifically. They do this because they know the answer faster. Sometimes I don’t have a voice in certain situations. 

4. I find myself having a lot of different hobbies than my peers. A lot of kids only have a few things they like. Artistic kids at my school aren’t very athletic, so I can’t talk sports with them to keep conversation going. Preppy girls don’t know what anxiety is, so my personality is slightly different. Jocks at my school focus more on sports a lot more than they do their school work. I focus on school more, because well I have to. These differences and different hobbies can lead to conversation breakdowns, different personalities, and different activities being attended. 

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 A lot of my friends can recognize it, but they can’t put a name to it like I can…APD. There’s just a little gap of air between me and my peers. I’m not being excluded. That's not it. I'm there, but I’m just not fully there like everyone else is. I'm not like everyone else. It’s not that I don’t belong anywhere, It’s just that belong everywhere. =D

The Truths About High School Hallways

If there is anything in the world that gives me anxiety, It is definitely living in High School 7 hours and 20 minutes a day five days a week.  That’s 36 hours and 40 minutes a week of being around a bunch of loud and talkative teenagers my age every day during the week. One word that describes this for me is “headache”! So I am going to give you the down-right truths that I run into daily:

In between classes, we have 5 minutes to get to our next class. For me, it feels like 10 minutes. A bunch of kids talking and being loud going to their next class is extremely loud for someone who has APD like me! I would say this scenario would be 10 times louder for someone with APD than looking at someone without APD. You’re probably saying, “Just block out all the noise!” Um, how?! It’s impossible to ignore sounds for me. I can hear everything, but I cannot make sense of what is being heard. It sounds like all those noise makers at the 2010 World Cup - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oFMolQckDE&NR=1 – There is no way you can pick out one of the horns’ specific noises. If you think I’m exaggerating about the horns by the way, I’m not at all kidding. The title does say TRUTHS in it. Although, once I enter my classroom it dies down tremendously but there are still a few horns in the room at all times. Whenever I talk to my guidance counselor, she closes the door because there is a lot of noise going on outside of her office. Also, after school if I need to talk to one of my teachers, I try to close the door. So my point here is hallways are very loud for me. I am so glad we have off campus lunch at my school!

Trying to have one-on-one hallway conversations have always been hard for me to understand:

Me- *noise* Hey Ky!

Ky- *noise* Hey! How are you?

Me- *noise* I have math next, what do you have?

Ky- *noise*Ugh, I asked you how are you? But that works too! I have English.  Gotta go see you later *smile*

Me- What? Okay! Bye..

A lot of times I answer wrong. It’s embarrassing and I feel kind of dumb, but hey… I really can’t help it, which is also frustrating for me. It’s really hard to make eye contact when talking to people in the halls...I don’t want to run into anyone while walking! Eye contact is very important for me and being able to see their lips. I’ve kind of figured out how the read lips. If the teacher or my friend are standing still and I can see their lips and eyes, it makes a huge difference.

Group hallway conversations on the other hand just don’t work for me. I always stand outside of the “circle” and try hard to say something right or ask something, but that doesn’t work all the time. I pace from one part of the circle to the other trying to enter the conversation. I get ignored usually, or they will say “What?” and I’ll repeat but while I’m repeating they’re talking to someone else already. When I am the one saying “Never mind” It’s frustrating, but when someone else is telling me “Never mind” I just get so annoyed and angry inside. I feel like when other people say, “What?” They always repeat for them, but since I’m always asking I get ignored more. That’s why it makes me mad. So you can just forget group hallway conversations...They don’t work. Too much background noise, too many people trying to talk at once.

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Truth be told, I just don’t like the hallways. I try to get out of them as fast as I possibly can. I got to say, the quietest places in school are the library, my counselors office, and classrooms -- in that order. Trying to find those quiet places are impossible in my school.     

Getting To Know You (Is Hard..)!!

In this past week, I am starting to get to know two new girls my age. They are part of my schools field hockey program. With my APD it is hard for me to get to know people, but especially teenagers around my age, and especially the new girls. It has been a great experience getting to know them though, and it’s also been a little bit of a struggle because they have difficulty understanding as well.

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Let’s start with Jordan. (Jordan, if you can see this I’m glad you’re reading my blogs! –Hope you don’t mind me using this as one of my stories!) I knew Jordan was coming to join my school (not to mention field hockey team as well! Very exciting!!). She is from the Netherlands, and is an exchange student this year! She made the varsity field hockey team and I love getting to know her, but for both of us it’s hard to understand each other I feel. Jordan is coming from a different country, and I’m coming from a “world” not a lot of people understand. She speaks English very fluently, but with that said she hasn’t lived in the teenage ”world” here long enough so won’t understand things we might not understand if we were around teens in her country. (Did I say that right? I hope that made sense…) For example, the slang teenagers use. “Omg!” “Neuby” “LOL” –That kind of stuff. But anyways…Here I am at the table at our team dinner trying to engage in conversation, and trying to understand a slightly different way of speaking coming from my soon-to-be new friend Jordan. I say slightly because to me it’s a DRASTIC change! I’m used to trying to comprehend and understand the a thousand “likes” in one sentence. “Yeah, I like, really like it when they do that. It’s like really friendly of them”. –Kind of LIKE that ;-). Now I have to re-train my brain almost and focus a little more on other ways of speaking. I have taught myself to understand the American teenage speaking patterns. With Jordan, I’ll have to recognize the new pattern and switch gears. It’ll take a little time to recognize those patterns and terms she speaks with, but to me this is a good experience. Seems like a brain exercise… Recognizing different kinds of talking patterns.

Liza. This girl has spirit. She has dedication, too. She is also blind, but that doesn’t stop her from being a part of the field hockey team. Liza is our manager this year for our two field hockey teams. She will be taking stats for us and announcing at all the games. Since Liza cannot see, describing things clearly for her is very important. She likes to feel objects she can touch, too. Since field hockey isn’t very popular, she was very interested in our field hockey sticks. Liza even told us what note some of our sticks were in! She’s very blessed musically. Since I am the junior captain of the Varsity team, my coach wanted me to explain some field hockey rules to her. I almost CRIED when he said this. I had no idea how to explain any rules to her without using visual aids. I am a visual learner… Liza is an auditory learner 100%. Explaining things like this is almost impossible for me. I know exactly in my head what each rule is, and can explain it by using visual aids, but without visual aids I was lost. Here is my first explanation:

Me- There is a rule called “Third-Party”. This means you can’t…you can’t um try to take the ball away from 

the player with the ball when there’s um…another player on them”

Liza- What do you mean? What does “another player on them” mean?

Me- Um. What? Hold on let me try again…Okay so Third party is like when um..A player has the ball and they are dribbling—

Liza- What is dribbling?

Me- (I don’t know how to explain the word dribbling! OH I got it…) It’s when the player progresses the ball on the field by taping the ball forward. So the girl is tapping the ball down the field and the player from the other team tries to come and steal it. If another player comes in to take it—

Liza- What team is the other player on?

Me- What player?

Liza- The last player you are talking about.

Me- Oh that girl is trying to take the ball from the girl with the ball too. So right now there are two players trying to steal the ball from the girl with the ball. You can’t have 2 players trying to steal the ball at once. Only 1.

Liza- I think I get it…

Me- (Oh my goodness..That was hard. Phew. I don’t like explaining this. It’s too hard)

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So talking to Liza is going to be another gear changer for me. But this time, it’s learning how to SPEAK to her. While with Jordan it’s learning to LISTEN and understand her. – It’s going to be hard to connect with the new teammates, but in the end this will help me. I will have more practice explaining things and more practice understanding different speaking patterns. For now, it's going to be a mountain to climb! 

Music Is My "Easy" Button

Can you imagine a world without music? Can you imagine a world where the only noises would come from the natural earth, people talking and animals? No songs at baseball games. No ipods. No school dances, because there would be no music… Can you imagine? There would be MORE talking probably. Yuck. That’s not what a teenager with APD needs. Music is my “Easy” button.

You’re probably thinking… Wouldn't music be harder to understand with all the background instruments? Music is a challenge because of more sounds trying to be processed, but it’s still easier than talking. If I were to choose one person talking, verses a singer and 3 instruments going I’d choose the singer and 3 instruments. Here’s why:

1. People talk in ONE tone.  Take that person and multiply that by ten. 1 X 10 = 10. TEN people talking in ONE tone! Everything I try to process in this scenario becomes overlapped, miss understood, and sometimes it’s just a big old blob. It’s kind of like bees… You can see there are ten bees buzzing around. Can you pick out which buzz belongs to each of the bees? No.  BUT in music there are many different tones. The singer doesn’t sing in just ONE tone through the whole entire song. Singers use various numbers of pitches and tones. The instruments are very distinct from one another. You have a guitar, you have a piano, and you have a drum. Easy pEASY lemon squEASY! I’d be lost without music.

2. There are pauses in songs. The musical term for pauses is called breaths. The breaths allow me to process what is being sung during the pause in the song. Sometimes the pause is in the middle of a sentence. Sometimes it’s taken at the end. Either way, I have more time to process little amount of words during the breath. When we talk to each other, we can talk so fast sometimes without even thinking about the person listening. We’re kind of like an alarm clock.. We don’t know when to shut up, haha.   

3. Music has a beat or a pattern. The pattern is pretty consistent through songs. When we talk, there is no pattern because it’s always changing. We-don’t talk like-this. This-is-how we talk-to one another. Did you get confused? I did, and I’m the one who wrote it, haha. For me, the repetitive pattern of sounds in music helps my brain remember and understand the words and instruments in songs.

Now there is some music I like more than others. I don’t like rap or heavy metal. I like soft rock and modern country. I prefer quieter songs than loud songs. I prefer slower songs than faster songs.

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Overall music is my relief, and I enjoy every aspect of it. It's like ice cream... It's almost impossible to dislike. You just can't go wrong with it. It’s my Easy button and I'll keep pushing it for as long as I want and you cannot stop me!! =D 

Charades: Guess what I am? –Wait, I don’t even know.

If there is anything in the world I like to do, it’s definitely team bonding with my field hockey team. I’ve told you before how awesome the team is (including the coaches). Because our team is so close, we do a lot of team bonding. I lose track of conversation a lot of times, but today’s team bonding activity wasn’t JUST a conversation I struggled with:

The seniors on the team have been organizing a team scavenger hunt all around our small town, and today we had it! It was in total 3.5 miles, so we would run to each of the eight stations (which was the workout part). They split us up into groups of 5 (total of 36 girls).  

ANYWAYS, one station got to me. It was Charades…If you don’t know what charades is, it’s where you pick a “card” and have to act out without talking what you’re card says. Well, that was the easy part! Want to know the hard part? –I picked my card, and I didn’t know what it was… My card said, “Barbershop Quartet”. To myself I was thinking, ‘Okay, I know what a barbershop is. It’s a place you get your hair cut at. But what’s a quartet? –Should I just ignore that word and act out Barbershop? I’ll ask the senior (Rachel) running the station I guess…’ By the way, I usually try to avoid asking this in this kind of social environment where there’s a lot of people around. You’ll see why… So, I told Rachel I am having a “brain-fart” to add a little humor and pointed to the word for her to help. This is what she says, “Oh my gosh! Are you serious? Wow, you’re so stupid. That’s the easiest word. Hahaha. I can’t believe it – Okay just pick a new card *giggles* Wow”. While she was saying that I was just adding humor so it wasn’t awkward for me or anyone else. I was saying “Yeah I know haha” and “I’m just not the sharpest tool in the shed, like YOU are” and “Okay, give me an easier card already!” Even though I KNEW it wasn’t because I was stupid, a little chunk inside of me felt like I am (but those are just feelings!).

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So here I am giving you a perspective on how hard vocabulary and meanings of words can be for me. There will be many times throughout the day I’ll ask my mom and dad “What does that mean?” I don’t feel too comfortable asking in front of my teammates too much, but I figure I have to get over the “fear” sooner or later. I feel like they think I’m doing it to be funny, but I’m not. I just use humor to cover up the truth and awkwardness. Even when I’m just with one friend it can be awkward. I know what the response will be from them…It will be like Rachel’s response. The “Oh my gosh..” or “Haha, really?” –YES really! I have APD, I’m proud of it, but I also struggle from it (but you don’t know that). One word I don’t understand in a sentence while reading, while my teacher is talking, or anyone speaking to me will throw me off and I will not understand whatever it is they’re talking about. Vocabulary is not a strength for APDers, but if you practice and ask despite a little awkwardness it will only get better!     

Texting: A Break from All the Gibber-Gabber from Friends and Teachers!

Does everyone remember when texting was a new idea? Well, new for my mom and dad and for their generation. My former Spanish teacher calls it “writing with your thumbs”, haha. Texting has basically been around my whole life. I'm swarmed in it. If you don't have a phone today, you're about insane because that's the main source of communication.

In the teen world texting is everyone's best friend. You may think I’m just saying that because I’m a teenager, but in reality it’s also because I’m a teenager with Auditory Processing Disorder. Texting has opened the door tremendously for me. Why you ask?

Well for one, texting doesn’t require responding RIGHT on the spot.. That means I have time to process what I would like to say. Let me tell you, processing what I wish to say is VERY tiring. –In fact, I’m still thinking and analyzing things I said 30 minutes ago. Texting gives me a little break. I can think about what I’m going to type. When I talk, there’s no delete button. When I text there IS a delete button. I can rephrase and go back what I want to say.
 Also, in text messaging, it’s words pasted on the screen. Looking at a text message is 10 times less hard than hearing someone verbalize there words. I don’t have to say, “What?” or “Huh?” or “Sorry..Can you say that again please?”. I can just plain old read the screen as much as I want till I understand what has been said. (Yes, reading comprehension is hard, but text messages don’t have a lot of detail and not many big words to worry about.)
 Last, when I’m reading a message I don’t need to work as hard to block all the distractions out around me because there’s again no one verbalizing anything to me. When there is even one other noise and someone is trying to also verbalize something to me, I can easily get confused and mix up the noises.
 

I am MUCH better off sending emails to my teachers and receiving emails from my teachers than having them try to help me right after school while there are distractions from the hallways going on. 1. I can explain to them with a lot more time what I am having a hard time with and 2. They can give me a clear response without me stopping them being confused because of a distraction or because I didn’t process something correctly.

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So texting allows me to communicate to especially my friends and teachers when I need a break from the constant gibber-gabber! Means a lot to people like me with APD!

Getting Down to The Level of Little Kids

There are some people in the world who just don't like or understand little kids. It is kind of a little hurtful when you hear that, don't you think? Those people may not understand how little kids' minds work. They might not realize what they told a little kid is too complex for them to understand. They might not understand that little kids are not quite at the level as adults and teens. Well, if you haven't caught on yet APDers and I are very much those little kids. -- (I am not at all saying people with APD are not mature, and I am not at all saying we are stupid. Studies show people with APD become very mature and are very intelligent!) Sometimes people don't like or understand me or anyone with APD..Now does that sound hurtful?

I am VERY good with children. I haven't ever taken care of a child that had a problem with me, and I've never had a problem with any child. I think MOST APDers will have good experiences with being around children. Here are the reasons why I believe this:

1. I have trouble with wording things that I'm trying to express:
-Do little kids have trouble wording what they want to express? YES.
How is four year old little Johnny going to tell his mom the new game he played in school today? --For a young child, explaining things will not contain a lot of detail. It takes there growing minds a few seconds to remember how to play it.  Similarly, It will take me a moment to think, too. AND I will be very patient with little Johnny explaining the new game because I know it's hard to put things into words.

2. I have trouble understanding sentences that have a lot of detail:
-Do kids understand detailed sentences? NO.
Here is an example how an adult would talk vs. a child...
Adult: I have a strong urge to eat that cookie over there!
Child: I want the cookie
Here, the adult has used 7 more words than the child, included the more complex word "urge", and added extra words that are not necessarily important to the point.
The child on the other hand, used 7 less words than the adult, and got right to the point.

What I'm trying to explain is that it will take me longer to process the Adult's sentence than the Child's sentence. The extra words "strong, urge, to" are JUST being processed by the time the word "cookie" is said. BUT In the Child's sentence "I, want, the, cookie" have been processed more rapidly and is much easier to understand which allows me to understand children speaking and their explanations very well!

3. I can understand little kid communication because there are not many complex words getting in my way:
"I want mommy" "That boy is mean" "Let's go watch a movie" "Don't put dirt in my bucket! Dirt is yucky" There isn't much effort needed to figure out there clever communication. =D

I get it and can get down to their level and understand what they are talking about. I get it that it takes them time to figure out how to say things they want to. In return little kids love it!

Team Bonding -- Playing a Simple Game (Not that simple for me)

Well, I've only been awake for a good few hours, but have already experienced trouble with my APD. First off, I should let you know that my field hockey team is very including! No one ever gets left out of things and everyone is like family. Anyways... At 9am this morning, we all went for a run. Where we live, we live by a lake. We went on a patio that looks out at the water and decided to play a game. Has anyone ever played the game Therapist?

This is how you play:

-It's where one person is the 'Therapist" and everyone else are the "Clients" so to speak. 

-While the "Therapist" is off away from everyone else, the clients make up one silly problem they all have.

-In this case, our problem was we were scared of the word "the". 

-The Therapist's job is to ask us questions like, "How does this problem make you feel?"

-When we called her over, she asked us questions and tried to guess what our silly problem is. 

BUT

-Every time she said "THE" we would all have to scream! 

--It was really hard for me to pick up when she said "THE". Sometimes I heard "they are", "this", "torn" and many other words. I would scream when I thought I was processing the word "the", but really it was something else. Sometimes I didn't even make sense of what she was saying and everyone else screamed, but me. I stopped screaming and only screamed when everyone else did -- so I was just going along with everyone else. 

---

So just a "simple" little game shows how my APD can affect me. I try concentrating so hard to understand one person talking..But even when I'm concentrating really hard, I still don't understand. I'm hearing lots of things..Birds chirping, dogs barking, the wind, boats going by, side conversations and giggles of my teammates, and last by not least my teammate (the "therapist") who I'm trying to make sense of first in this situation... Social situations are very hard for me. I feel left out ALL the time. 

Fact: APD has made me who I am Truth: It can be hard Lie: APD Is impossible to handle

First off I want to welcome and thank you all for taking the time to read my blog! Not only because It's my blog, but because whomever is reading this cares about APD, and/or wants to learn more. Let me tell you, you're in the right place! Hi, my name is Anna and I'm sixteen. I enjoy playing sports, being with my friends and family, babysitting kids and making them laugh and smile, photography, listening to music, talking to cute boys, going to the beach, and living life to the fullest. Oh and I'm also living with Auditory Processing Disorder everyday. We have five senses. 1. Seeing 2. Tasting 3. Feeling 4. Smelling 5. Hearing. Of those five senses, they are all perfectly normal. You ask me why hearing isn't an issue? APD does have the "auditory" in it which has to do with hearing. But what about the "processing"? Well, the processing part is the brain. My brain doesn't process all the a thousand things I hear. It's like when someone is half-sleeping. 1, or 4, or 10 people could be talking to them. They can hear everyone, but there brain isn't fully on. That is what I deal with on a daily basis. APD affects me when I'm trying to hear my coach from the sidelines during a game, listening to my friend(s) talk, listening to a cute boy talk to me, listening to my family at dinner, listening to the television, listening to music, and of course when I'm listening to my teacher and classmates in school. I'm not afraid of it, I'm willing to go the extra mile and overcome this long lasting challenge. I am here to tell you and answer any of your questions about APD. Please feel free to talk to/ask me anything! Thanks again to all of you who care! I'll be writing my next blog soon!