Same or Different: The Overlap Between Children With Auditory Processing Disorders and Children With Other Developmental Disorders: A Systematic Review.

The review included 13 studies, and the groups were small: APD groups ranged from 7 to 41 children per study, and comparison groups ranged from 10 to 29 children per study. None of the included studies randomly enrolled subjects or blinded subjects or assessors, and it was often unclear whether the groups were comparable at baseline. Many children had more than one diagnosis, and some studies did not report whether children had additional deficits beyond the primary diagnosis. Some children were counted more than once across studies because participants were reused in follow-up reports. No included study compared children with APD directly with children with autism spectrum disorder. The review could not combine the study results in a meta-analysis because the tests and reporting methods varied widely. The possible distinguishing measures were supported by only a few small studies, and the CHAPPS questionnaire was completed by parents rather than teachers, which may introduce referral bias. The search included only English articles and excluded case studies and studies without auditory processing terms in the title, so relevant evidence may be missing.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Do not conclude that auditory processing disorder is not a real or distinct condition. The review found group-level overlap on most tests, but it also states that similarities do not reveal individual differences and that the included studies were small, heterogeneous, and of moderate quality.