PP1123 - Central Auditory Processing Intervention Efficacy Study of Little Listeners Therapy Protocol

Abstract:
A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the Primary Auditory Skills Exercises (Little Listeners, LLC) intervention protocol for children identified with at least one auditory processing deficit, based on the buffalo model. A database was provided by an offsite private practice with pre- and post-intervention auditory processing skills assessments. A repeated measures MANOVA was used, to compare pre-and post-therapy (intervention) auditory skill performance to conclude the effectiveness of the PASE therapy program. Preliminary results indicated significant differences across 47 participants.

Summary:

Purpose:
In the last ten years, neuroradiology practices have expanded to include the assessment of auditory processing; however, there is no standard to identify auditory processing disorders in patients or treat the lesions in the central auditory pathway (Barker & Hicks, 2020). There is a lack of consensus regarding diagnosis, and management of auditory processing deficits, especially in children (Barker & Hicks, 2020). It is crucial that children who are diagnosed with auditory processing deficits receive intervention of some kind, but fewer than 10% of audiologists reported implementing the auditory training (intervention) in their standard of care (Sweetow & Sabes, 2010). This study investigated the efficacy of the Primary Auditory Skills Exercises (PASE) © intervention program.

Methods
Little Listeners, a private practice in Alpharetta, GA, has been providing auditory processing evaluations and PASE program to school-age children since 2013. Researchers were granted repository pre-therapy and post-therapy data. All tests completed in the assessment battery resulted in a CAPD deficit were compared pre-therapy (baseline) and post-therapy ( >3 months) to determine the short-term effectiveness of the program. Pre-therapy and post-therapy data was treated as dependent variables, and time was the independent variable. Chi-square distribution on completion of PASE intervention (0= incomplete; 1= complete PASE program) and binary post-auditory skill outcome (0 = deficit identified; 1 = within normal limits). Multivariate repeated measures ANOVA, to compare pre-and post-therapy (intervention) for staggered spondaic words (RNC, RC, LNC, LC) number of errors for a subset of 20 patients. Results were used to conclude the effectiveness of the PASE therapy program.

Results:
A chi-square test of independence was performed to examine the relation between PASE intervention completion and post-intervention binary outcome. The relation for two Post-test outcomes SPIN LE, X2 (1, N = 47) = 5.9, p = .0015 and SSW TOTAL, X2 (1, N = 47) = 6.78, p = .009) variables was significant. Patients who completed the PASE program were more likely than Patients who did not complete the PASE program to fall within normal limits on their reassessment. Authors note, that while the remainder of chi-square tests were insignificant, more than 20% of the cells had less values that rendered the results invalid. A multivariate repeated measures ANOVA was performed to compare the effect of time (pre-post intervention) on each auditory skill assessment as the dependent variable. The MANOVA revealed a significant multivariate main effect for time, Wilks’ λ = .48, F (1, 17) = 16.77, p < .001, η2 = .51 (observed power >.97). Results indicated there was a statistically significant decrease in the number of errors across SSW sub-scores on the post-intervention (Mean = 4.0; SD= 0.57) compared to the pre-intervention sub-scores (Mean = 6.96; SD= 0.90). Further results of the analysis will be discussed.