Low level auditory skills compared to writing skills in school children attending third and fourth grade: Evidence for the rapid auditory processing deficit theory?

Background: The rapid auditory processing deficit theory holds that impaired reading/writing skills are not caused exclusively by a cognitive deficit specific to representation and processing of speech sounds but arise due to sensory, mainly auditory, deficits. To further explore this theory we compared different measures of auditory low level skills to writing skills in school children. Methods: Design: prospective study. Sample: School children attending third and fourth grade. Dependent variables: just noticeable differences for intensity and frequency (JNDI, JNDF), gap detection (GD) monaural and binaural temporal order judgement (TOJb and TOJm); grade in writing, language and mathematics. Statistics: correlation analysis. Results: No relevant correlation was found between any auditory low level processing variable and writing skills. Discussion: These data do not support the rapid auditory processing deficit theory.