Response to the letter to the editor from Moncrieff (2017) regarding de Wit et al. (2016), "Characteristics of auditory processing disorders: a systematic review"

Purpose: The purpose of this letter is to respond to Moncrieff's (2017) letter to the editor, "Response to de Wit et al., 2016, 'Characteristics of Auditory Processing Disorders: A Systematic Review,'" published in May 2017 by the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.

Conclusion: We believe that our original conclusions are valid given the limited evidence that is currently available about the etiology of auditory processing disorders (APD). The focus of our systematic review was to identify the characteristics of children with a diagnosis of APD or a suspicion of APD. The results of our study showed that the characteristics of these children are not specific or limited to the auditory modality but are multimodal instead. In our view, it is incorrect to use the diagnosis APD, because there is not necessarily a specific auditory deficit in a large group of children suffering from listening difficulties. Before we start using any new diagnoses, a better insight into how bottom-up and top-down processes are precisely involved in listening needs to be developed. In addition, more insight is needed with respect to the similarities and differences between the different developmental disorders of children.