OBSERVATIONS ON THE USE OF SCAN TO IDENTIFY CHILDREN AT RISK FOR CENTRAL AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER

The SCAN: A screening Test for Auditory Processing Disorders was desig ned for administration in a quiet school test setting, although it is also administered by audiologists in the audiometric booth. In a study seeking to screen for the presence of central auditory processing dis order (CAPD) in children with a history of otitis media (OM). 14 child ren with a history of OM and an equal number without this risk factor for CAPD (non-OM) were tested in a school setting using the SCAN and t he Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R). Forty-three perce nt of the OM group failed the SCAN, as did 29% of the non-OM group; he nce, the groups were not differentiated using the SCAN. To probe the e ffects of environment on test results, a second experiment was conduct ed in which six additional children were administered the SCAN in both a school setting and an audiometric test booth. Individual data revea led that subjects performed more poorly on the SCAN administered in th e school setting than in the audiometric test booth. The marked differ ence in SCAN scores between the two environments raises methodological concerns regarding the use of this instrument for identification of c hildren at risk for central auditory processing disorders.