Objective: The current study examined the relationship between learning and auditory processing (AP) ability in a clinical sample of children with and without learning difficulties (LD).Design: A non-randomised, cross-sectional, single measure research design was used.Study sample: The participants consisted of 50 children (7.7-10.8 years) who had been referred for a clinical AP assessment based on having been referred from a school-based AP screening. These children had previously been identified as having (n = 14) or not having (n = 36) LD.Results: Children with LD performed significantly worse than children without LD on frequency patterns with linguistic reports (FPlinR and FPlinL), dichotic digits (DD) and Auditory Word Memory - Forward (ANMF) tests, with significant correlations being observed between these variables and the learning score. The multiple linear regression showed that FPlinR, DDR and ANMF scores explained 50% of the variance in the learning score.Conclusion: The present study's results are most consistent with risk factor models linking AP to learning abilities in children where reduced AP abilities could put children at greater risk for LD. Further investigations into the potential relationships between AP, cognition, speech and language development, and learning ability in children are warranted.
Keywords: Australia; Paediatric; conditions/pathology/disorders; learning difficulties.