Goodness gracious. I just about drove myself crazy the other day. I was having one of those days where it seemed impossible to understand everything that was being said. I fiddled with my hearing aid, checking to see if it was working. It seemed to be working fine, as always. I felt the speakers' pain as they repeated themselves over and over again until I finally understood or gave up and pretended to hear what was said. It seemed as if everyone was speaking gibberish.
I don't know what was wrong with me. Was I tired? Was my brain fried?
I was exhausted by the end of the day and was never so happy to finally be home. As I crashed onto my bed ready to tune out with some television nonsense, my boyfriend came over and started to talk to me, "So, what was gfhdjdksuytg like frtgyd?"
What?
(e
I don't know what was wrong with me. Was I tired? Was my brain fried?
I was exhausted by the end of the day and was never so happy to finally be home. As I crashed onto my bed ready to tune out with some television nonsense, my boyfriend came over and started to talk to me, "So, what was gfhdjdksuytg like frtgyd?"
What?
(e
I have days like that, too. I think they happen more often when I'm tired or stressed or otherwise emotionally occupied. Listening is hard work! If my attention is diverted elsewhere (work or relationship issues or just being tired), I have a much harder time understanding people. I also just veg in front of the TV more on days like that - at least I don't have to work hard to understand the captions! :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, people don't realize that listening is not something simple as good vision (we can see easily without effort or concentrating) our brain is doing most of the work figuring out what people are saying instead of sounds flowing with ease.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my life. I have lots of days like that thanks to my APD. No fun at all.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have any advice on how to cope in a grad school classroom? I'm starting my second year of grad school in a month or so and am starting to dread being back in the classroom. I am HOH along with an APD. English is my primary language but I know some sign. If it's just a prof lecturing I can get by decently well, but the minute a discussion starts, I'm lost completely.
Joy, I totally understand. Classroom discussions can be hard to follow.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest talking to your professor about this. Perhaps you can both come up with some ideas (change of seating arrangement, minimizing background noises, one person at a time, have teacher or person point to who is talking (if large class), etc.).
Does your school provide disability services? I would go and talk ti them. Perhaps they would have some ideas or experience with this.
Good luck!
Hi (e I've talked to disability services a number of times. They have no experience at all with APD. They've had two students with "regular" hearing problems who benefited greatly from FM systems, but I've used FM systems before and they've helped very little.
ReplyDeleteI'm tired of just sliding by on what I can decode auditorily. I know I can do better and I want to do better, I just don't know how and it frustrates me.
I am sorry that the people at the school have not dealt with APD before. That has got to be frustrating.
ReplyDeleteWhat about your audiologist or doctor? Do you think they will have any suggestions.
Unfortnately, I do not have a lot of knowledge of or experience with APD, so I cannot help or offer suggestions other than to talk to people who know about this.
Is there anyone here who has APD, CAPD, or knows about it, who can help Joy with this?
By the way, I am assuming APD is Auditory Processing Disorder. Please correct me if I am wrong.
I don't see my audiologist until November, but I'll ask at my next appointment.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, APD did stand for Auditory Processing Disorder. In all technicality I have a Central Auditory Processing Disorder combined with an organic hearing loss. and I appreciate any and all help I can get.
Did u ask for cart?
ReplyDeleteJoy, when I was in college, they gave me a note taker for my classes. This helped for some classes immensely. I went to Student Services and told them I was struggling with the lectures and they had a couple of people who were GREAT at taking notes and getting together with me after class to be sure I had the information I needed.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous- I think that's going to be my next step.
ReplyDeleteXpressive Handz - I've used note takers before and they help some, especially for classes that are strictly lecture based, but so few of my classes are just lecture based. Most of them have a large discussion component and that frustrates me to no end because I'm too lost to participate. Also, with note takers, it's the note taker that decides what's important, not me.
Sorry if I sound whiny or difficult today. I'm just having one of my more frustrated days and am not looking forward to the semester starting, not because I don't want to learn (I'm excited about the material), but because of the whole APD in the classroom issue.