Shutdown during auditory processing test

Post Reply New Topic

My suspected Aspie 7yo daughter was directed to auditory processing test with hypersensivity suspected. Her audiogram showed slightly below-average hearing on physiological level. Then, the tests were conducted with me waiting on the corridor.
Just a few minutes later, I was called inside. M was sitting on her chair, curled up and trembling, speechless. I learned that the first test was about hearing speech in noise and M complained for the noise being too loud but did the task very well. Then in the second test, she heard two numbers in one ear and two different numbers in the other ear - and this just blocked her completely, she stopped responding at all.

All I could tell the examinator was that exactly this kind of behavior at school made her directed to the tests. I learned that this test was just for screening and she got directed to more advanced tests without finishing it. All I could do to make it better was booking a bit later hour (M needed to wake up early to come and she definitely isn't a morning person, that might have contributed to the shutdown).

The shutdown started to decrease soon after she learned we were done for today. When coming home, she mentioned the test and I tried to explain her that she didn't need to "pass" it showing she knows everything, she just had to give the examinator feedback of how much she could hear and understand.

Any thoughts?

This sounds like a classic miscommunication between an NT and an autistic.

I would suggest you contact the people that did the test and ask if she can be retested.

She is going to get more advanced tests anyway.

I would love if you elaborated more where you see the miscommunication and what could be clarified.

She probably thought that she was (literally) being tested and graded, and didn't understand they were just seeing if she could hear or understand her hearing abilities.

This coupled with her inability to understand or differentiate sounds in this or that scenario that they were testing her for, probably caused her a lot of thoughts and she shut down.

Sounds like an anxiety problem. May be she thought being required to pass the test. The shutdown was the reaction once she realized of being unable to pass this test. There was nobody for help or protection around! Just an unknown environment and strange people she didn't like and didn't trust who wanted her to do things that she was unable to do. You need to talk to her before it causes her nightmares. She needs to understand why you brought her to this people. It's really important for her now.

We repeated the test and she shut down again
Anyway, the test was to qualify her for a therapy that would be similar to this test - so it most likely would be completely useless anyway.

She gets shutdowns more and more frequently. She stops talking, coils up and only meows and hisses The specialists at local center are divided between concerned but unable to do anything because of procedures and... I don't know... uninterested?