Audiology Services

What Do You Hear?

A Chance To Grow's Audiology Services offers diagnostic assessments of hearing and auditory processing skills to children and adults. Our audiologists will provide recommendations for referrals and interventions for the clients based on their needs and resources available.

Our clinic utilizes two home-based interventions for Auditory Processing Disorders:

These interventions may be recommended depending on the results of the assessment.

What is an Auditory PRocessing Disorder?

An Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) may be defined as a reduced or impaired auditory processing ability to discriminate, recognize, or comprehend auditory information. This problem will be most pronounced when the auditory signals are compromised by distortion, competition, poor acoustic environments, or other reduction in signal clarity, strength, or information content. In other words, the individual with APD will experience greater problems when the acoustic environment is less than ideal, such as in an open classroom or when the signal is poor due to interference, intensity, or content.

Which program is right for your child?
Please fill out our Symptoms Checklist to see if our Auditory Services may be the right therapy for you or your loved one. For more information or to schedule an evaluation, please contact us at (612) 789-1236 or email rehabclinic@actg.org.

If you or a loved one is struggling to discriminate, recognize, or comprehend auditory information, or if you suspect his or her hearing isn't what it should be, please schedule an evaluation with our experienced Audiologists to determine the cause of the deficit and develop a treatment plan to address the issue.

Because we believe auditory processing is part of the whole person, we will refer you or your child to the following services at A Chance To Grow if appropriate:

We provide the following Auditory testing:

Pure Tone Audiometry: traditional hearing testing ages 4 1/2 to adult
Speech Audiometry: testing for ages six months to adult
Impedence Measurements: tests of middle ear function
Visual Reinforcement Audiometry: testing at the developmental ages of six months to three years using head turns toward speakers presenting sounds
Conditioned Play Audiometry: testing at the developmental ages of 3 - 4 1/2 where a child wears headphones and is conditioned to a task when he or she hears the sound.
Auditory Processing Evaluation: testing at the developmental age of 7 and up that uses a series of tests to evaluate the individual’s ability to process auditory information presented in various ways

Request an Evaluation

Frequently Asked Questions

What does an Auditory Processing Evaluation entail?

A health history review
A full hearing assessment
An auditory processing test protocol and consult, which reviews the results from the full hearing assessment and provides recommendations. In the assessment, your child will need to repeat numbers, words, beep patterns, etc. that are presented through headphones. Stimuli will be competing with one another or presented in a compromised manner. The whole appointment takes about two hours.

How young can you test for an Auditory Processing Disorder?

A full diagnostic evaluation can be performed at the age of seven. Screenings are available at the ages of five and six if the child is able to sit and listen to the stimuli and repeat what is presented to him/her for about an hour.

What happens once the testing is completed?

The testing results are discussed with you at the end of the appointment. Typically, there are two main types of Auditory Processing Disorders. Depending on the pattern noted during testing, we make recommendations based on the needs and resources available. There are usually interventions that can be done at home, school, or with other outpatient therapies. You will receive a full report following the appointment.

Does your agency offer any intervention programs?

Yes. We offer a user-friendly home music-based program called the Johansen Individualized Auditory Stimulation program (previously called HSAS, or Hemisphere Specific Auditory Stimulation). This includes a customized music CD to listen to 20 minutes a day through stereo headphones. After listening to the CD for about eight weeks, you or your child will return to A Chance To Grow and the audiologist will create a new CD. You will go through three CDs in about six months and then complete a final evaluation before the audiologist gives you or your child a maintenance CD to complete the program.

We also offer a deficit-specific, online treatment program called CAPDOTS. This is a treatment that can also be completed in your own home or wherever there is an Internet connection. The listening exercises must be completed 5 days per week, 30 minutes per day for a duration of approximately 14 weeks.

Do i Have to come to Minneapolis to receive services?

Not necessarily. Depending on your location, our Audiologists may be able to refer you to a clinic or clinician closer to your location.

What our clients say about our services
"The program helped my child. She was having ‘shut downs’ to different sounds. She would take time away from school when she couldn’t learn – up to an hour or more a day. Gradually, she left school less and less until it didn’t happen at all. At the same time, she also started to learn to read. She is now reading at a first grade level and her sight word list is always growing.”
- Mother of client receiving Auditory services

Have our Audiology Services worked for you?
Share your story! Or, visit our Success Stories page and see what else our clients say about us!

Dr. Sara Cook
AuD, CCC-A, Clinical Audiologist
Dr. Cook was instrumental in starting the Auditory Services department over 20 years ago at A Chance To Grow. Over this time she has worked with schools, parents, teachers and other professionals to train and educate them on Auditory Processing Disorders.

Dr. Cook enjoys working with children and adults in identifying and treating Auditory Processing Disorders in order to assist them in reaching their fullest potential in social communication, academics, and/or the work place. She believes working at A Chance To Grow and having access to other specialty professionals is a great benefit in being able to help each client find the resources they need.