What Did You Say?
A book about Central Auditory Processing Disorder
by Jennifer M. Burke

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The words people say to you take a longer trip than you’d think! Every step of the way—from their brain to their tongue, from their tongue to your ears, from your ears to your brain—things can get scrambled or misunderstood. And the different ways our brains are built can make it harder to understand what people are saying, even after the words have come all that way. My name’s Emma, and I have Central Auditory Processing Disorder. (I’ll explain what those words mean inside this book!) Having CAPD means that even when I can hear somebody, it can be hard for me to sort out the words in my head to figure out what they mean. Sometimes, the sounds end up in the wrong order! That can be funny, but really confusing, too. Thankfully, there are things we can do to help when words are getting mixed up between my brain and your brain. Come join me inside this book to learn about how we understand each other and how we misunderstand each other (And take a look at some funny mix-ups along the way)!

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Produced with the financial support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario.

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Jennifer M. Burke is a wildlife artist and children’s book illustrator who only recently learned about CAPD—right before being diagnosed with it! As a long-time disability and neurodiversity advocate, she wants to help raise awareness around CAPD so that no child has to struggle to understand without the words to explain what’s wrong, and so people with CAPD and their peers can better understand how these particular differences work. Jennifer has been in love with reading and with writing for a very long time; though this is her debut in publishing, she’s got more stories in her. She’s a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Canada East. Jennifer lives in Ottawa, Canada, with her cat, Poppy.

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Contributors

Author

Jennifer M. Burke