Auditory processing disorder and brain pathology in a preterm child with learning disabilities.

BACKGROUND Auditory processing disorders involve deficits in the processing of information in the auditory domain that are not due to higher order language, cognitive or other related factors. PURPOSE To evaluate the possibility of structural brain abnormalities in preterm children manifesting as auditory processing disorders. RESEARCH DESIGN A case report of a young girl, preterm at birth, with language difficulties, learning problems at school, and additional listening problems. RESULTS A diagnosis of a central auditory processing disorder was made on the basis of severe deficits in three nonspeech temporal tests (the frequency and duration pattern and the random gap detection tests). Her brain MRI revealed large porencephalic cysts and thinning of the corpus callosum. CONCLUSIONS The observed auditory deficits would be compatible with a pressure effect of the cysts at a brainstem or higher level for the random gap detection test, and with the thinning of the corpus callosum for the pattern tests, the latter requiring interhemispheric transfer of information. The case highlights that preterm children with learning difficulties may suffer from an auditory processing disorder, in the presence of structural brain abnormalities that are due to birth and neonatal complications.