Could my child's ears be the cause of his behavioural problems?

[ironthoramerica]

My Ds is under audiology for fluid in the ears, and he recently had his tonsils removed. He's behaviour has suddenly taken a downwards spiral at school quite badly and I didn't put 2 and 2 together until tonight. He's not complaining of any ear pain but he's been waking up crying, his ear is very red tonight and school have said he's not listening at all recently.
I think it's a genuine ear problem and am going to book him in to gp ASAP but could this explain his sudden bad behaviour?

No I don't think so. Unless it's frustration thought not being able to hear?

Definitely a possibility. Imagine if suddenly you couldn't hear and also were tired from lack of sleep.

Poor mite hope he feels better soon

Yes it could.
Two of my children had grommets/vents.
Now they are adults they can explain how fluid in their ears affected them.
They couldn't hear properly.
It felt like they were under water all the time.
Certain noises really annoyed them one of the things that annoyed my son was the rustle of a plastic bag.loud noises such as music at family weddings or parties.
They felt like you would if you had a head cold and your ears are blocked.

How old is he?
If v young then yes pain and loss of hearing coukd impact behaviour if he can't express what is going on

Not being able to hear properly is exhausting, it requires extra concentration and the brain has to work overtime

Definitely.

It could be that he hadn’t heard or understood instructions. It could be that because he’s working so hard to follow conversations that he’s suffering concentration fatigue and is exhausted so he’s behaving badly.

What did audiology sah about how his hearing acuity has been affected by the fluid?

He's 4. I'm definitely thinking now that he's struggling with his hearing, we're waiting on a hearing test that his ent consultant referred him for because of fluid.
He's getting very frustrated at school, he's only been there a few weeks, it's starting to make sense as it's a noisy environment etc

Background noise and hearing problems are terrible combinations.

It’s important to talk to his teacher about your worries.

It's absolutely a possibility. My ds's behaviour improved tremendously after getting grommets. It makes me cross that it seems to be really hard to get them under the NHS these days.

Yes! Absolutely. Both my children had glue ear-, and the way we found out was that their behaviour deteriorated massively. (They're both complete goody goodies!)
They were struggling with frustration from going deaf. (They had ear infection after ear infection when small)
Two grommets ops later, all sorted.

Speak to the class teacher. If you suspect he can’t hear, and is waiting to see a specialist they’ll need to put in place some changes in the classroom to ensure he’s getting as much chance to reach his potential as possible.

DS is 2 and had grommets, his adenoids removed and his tonsils reduced a fortnight ago.

He’s like a different child. Happier, sleeping better, talking more clearly, less tantrums, less aggressive behaviour (frustration), less ‘naughtiness’.

I would definitely pursue it.

He's in at the doctors later and I've got a meeting with the school to let them know my concerns etc
He was so poorly before his tonsils and adenoids were removed he suffered for nearly 4 years and I thought we were nearly at the end

Yes; I could have written Maverick66's post.
DD had first lot of grommets aged 2 and the second set at 6 (and I reckon we may be in for one more).
She couldn't explain much at aged 2 but even by age 5 she described it as 'hearing lots of voices like a radio' and having 'ants and twigs in her ears and her throat'.
She also used to pronounce certain things in what appeared to be a fairly unconnected way (to the real word) and it transpired that it was due to only hearing things when people emphasized a syllable unnaturally.
She gave no indication at all of being on a deaf spectrum as such prior to age 2 but one ear has a medium-severe hearing loss that has actually deteriorated. However - probably due to the grommets - she in fact seems to have hearing like a bat! Can hear all kinds of odd pitches that disturb her, even over things like air conditioning (in a car, say), and she is usually right about them.

I read a really interesting study where children with behavioural difficulties were treated with herbal anti catarrhals ( I think it wAs Germany where herbs are prescribed by mainstream doctors). The results were amazing, kids behaviour and attainment in school were really positively affected.

If I'm uncomfortable or in pain I can get very short with people, I definitely think the two are linked.

Oh, absolutely! How's his language and speech development? That could also be affected by fluid in the ear as he won't be able to hear others speak as well.

Could he possibly have tinnitus as well?
I've had dreadful problems with my ears and apart from excruciating pain at it's worst the tinnitus comes a close second.
Poor more, hope it clears soon.

Having been the child and my own child suffered too in reception with glue ear it is really frustrating you feel like you are detached from the world and hearing everything is muffled. He will be missing things the teacher says if he is not looking at them as he will be at least partially lip reading so may appear disobedient, but actually didn't hear the instruction.
The teacher can help by having him at the front of the class facing her and making sure he is looking at her when she is giving instructions.

Yes. In reception the teachers could predict D's getting an ear infections by his behaviour. They'd give me a call and suggest I booked an appointment. They were never wrong.

I was also told some of the typical glue ear behavioural symptoms can mimic some autistic traits.

Absolutely. It took us years to spot that bad behaviour was due to illness with DS, and when I asked our GP for a hearing test citing his behaviour he was referred straight away.

Turns out he's autistic. However hearing was a perfectly plausible option, and easy and cheap to check, so we looked into that first.

Yep.

My DS behaviour was awful then he got grommets and calmed right down. The Dr said he probably couldn't hear and was frustrated.

He was only 2/3

A definite possibility. Poor thing. School is such a noisy and busy environment. Imagine if it's a kind of pain that he just can't describe yet as he's only little. Strange noises that are not clear. Frustrating and distracting for any adult. Bless him.

Good luck. Hope he gets checked out soon.

I feel I was a little bit dismissed today as the person I spoke to at school said that when they called him from outside with all background noise he heard them straight away. I never said my child was deaf I said he was struggling sometimes and I just wanted to make them aware. Gp thinks middle ear problem and nothing they can do just have to wait for audiology now.

Ah so they SHOUTED to him and he heard? He's clearly fine then!

No harm in asking for specific things to help him. I find school tends to be more helpful if you say "please could you do X" than if you just bring them problems. Hope the appt comes through quickly.