SCAN-C© (Test for Auditory Processing Disorders In Children-Revised)

SCAN-C is a test for Auditory Processing Disorders in children ages 5-11yrs. SCAN-C assesses the perception stage of auditory processing, which is pre-cognitive. The test requires that the child repeat stimulus words or sentences, but the child is not required to understand the concept of "same or different", or to understand at a cognitive level the phonetic or phonologic differences that exist among speech sounds.

SCAN-C Subtests

The first two subtests, Filtered Words and Auditory Figure Ground, are sensitized speech tests in which the test items have been distorted in a specific way to reduce intelligibility. The last two, Competing Words and Competing Sentences, are dichotic listening tests in which different words or sentences are presented simultaneously, one to each ear.

Subtest 1 Filtered Words

Purpose

The Filtered Words subtest enables the examiner to assess a child's ability to understand distorted speech. Results of research using such tasks indicates that children with auditory processing disorders have difficulty understanding distorted speech and often have receptive language disorders with poor auditory closure. Filtered words testing has been used for many years and has long been considered effective in the identification of CAPD in children.

Test Format

The child is asked to repeat words that sound muffled. The test stimuli consist of one syllable words that have been low-pass filtered at 1000 Hz with a roll-off of 32 dB per octave. Three practice and 20 test words are presented to the right ear. Then two practice words and 20 test words are presented to the left ear.

Subtest 2 Auditory Figure-Ground

Purpose

The Auditory Figure-Ground subtest enables the examiner to assess a child's ability to understand speech in the presence of background noise. Difficulty understanding speech in the presence of background noise is a frequent complaint of individuals with auditory processing difficulties. These children are unable to completely comprehend auditory input in noisy situations, reverberant rooms, and in other unfavorable listening conditions. Poor performance on such tasks may also indicate a delay in development of the auditory system.

Test Format

One syllable words were recorded in the presence of multi-talker speech babble noise at +8 dB signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio (i.e., the stimulus words are 8 dB higher intensity than the multi-talker speech babble). The child is asked to repeat the stimulus words in the presence of background noise. Two practice words and 20 test words are presented to the right ear, and then two practice and 20 test words are presented to the left ear.

Subtest 3 Competing Words

Purpose

The Competing Words subtest enables the examiner to assess the child's ability to understand competing speech signals (sometimes called binaural separation). The Competing Words subtest is a dichotic task that is used to assess function of neurologic pathways of the auditory system. Poor overall performance may indicate a developmental delay in maturation or underlying neurological disorganization or damage to auditory pathways. The Competing Words subtest also enables you to assess ear advantage. Left-ear advantages for all test conditions indicate the possibility of damage to the auditory reception areas of the left hemisphere, or failure to develop left hemisphere dominance for language. Abnormalities shown by dichotic words test results are related to a wide range of specific disabilities, including central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), language disabilities, learning disabilities, and reading disorders.

Test Format

The test stimuli consist of one syllable word pairs presented to the right and left ears. The child hears two words simultaneously-one word presented to each ear. First, two practice word pairs and 15 test word pairs are presented. As a directed listening task the child is instructed to repeat both words, repeating the word heard in the right ear first. Then, a second set of two practice word pairs and 15 test word pairs are presented. The child is instructed to repeat both words, repeating the word heard in the left ear first.

Subtest 4 Competing Sentences

Purpose

Dichotic sentence testing is another binaural separation test procedure. Like the Competing Words subtest, results of the Competing Sentences subtest are used to determine levels of auditory maturation, hemispheric dominance for language, and to identify disordered or damaged central auditory pathways. The advantage of testing binaural separation with both word and sentence stimuli is to compare findings obtained with both simple and more complex linguistic levels of auditory stimuli.

Test Format

Pairs of sentences that are unrelated in topic are presented to the right and left ears. The sentence pairs have simultaneous onset and offset times, with no more than 10 milliseconds difference. The Competing Sentences subtest also consists of a directed ear listening task, but in this case the child is instructed to direct attention to the stimuli presented in one ear, while ignoring stimuli presented to the other ear. First, two practice sentence pairs and 10 test sentence pairs are presented. The child is instructed to repeat only the sentence heard in the right ear. Then, another set of practice and test sentence pairs are presented. This time, the child is instructed to repeat only the sentence heard in the left ear.

Interpretation

SCAN-C results can help to identify how a particular child's pattern of auditory skills compares to a national sample of children. SCAN-C results provide information on specific aspects of auditory performance, such as listening under degraded conditions and competing conditions. Reviewing a child's pattern of performance on SCAN-C and any documented behavioral observations during testing provides information to help rule out the presence of auditory processing problems in children with language, learning, or attention deficit disorders.

Normative Data for SCAN-C are reported at one-year intervals from 5 years 0 months to 9 years 11 months; and one combined age group for 10 years 0 months to 11 years 11 months. The SCAN-C normative data enables the examiner to compare a child's auditory processing performance on SCAN-C with the auditory processing abilities of children of similar age across the country (i.e., the standardization sample). SCAN-C provides subtest and composite standard scores, percentile ranks and a normative classification system. As a standardized test, SCAN-C standard scores can be directly compared to any other speech-language, educational, or psychological test that is standardized.

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Australia and New Zealand for Scan-C and Scan-A and the ACPT check the following websites:  http://www.harcourt-au.com or www.psychcorp.com.au or contact the client services team at 1800 882 385 toll free within Australia and 0800 942 722 free call from New Zealand.

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