glue ear+-slow development

[osospecial]

Hi, my DD who is almost 20months old has possibly got glue ear, she has had a hearing test which was below average +has to go back in 6weeks, she has a build up of fluid behind her left ear which has caused a few ear infections since xmas. I am concerned as her development is a bit slow, she only says mam+dad and doesn't seem to understand if I ask her to fetch something etc.
I am not sure wot I can do to help her understand more or if this problem is caused by the glue ear? Any advise would be appreciated thanx :)

Glue ear (otitis media) can interfere with language development and it's important to get it treated, if possible. Impossible to say if anything else is going on on the basis of the information in your post. Good luck with getting your daughter's hearing sorted.

She has a joint appointment with the ear, nose+throat specialist after her next hearing test in 6weeks time so I hope this will lead to getting it treated correctly.
In the meantime I was wondering if anybody had any advise of things I could try to encourage her to talk more as I know she can hear its just not as clear as it should be and feel like I should be ddoing somethng to help her in the meantime.
Also I was wondering if the lack of understanding me if I asked her to get something or if she wants something, if I ask her do you want juice etc she doesn't understand, is also related to the hearing problem?
If anyone wants any further info please feel free to ask

Are there any other concerns apart from hearing ? You need to think about joint attention and shared gesturing/pointing and also play skills. But hopefully the situation will become clearer once the hearing issue is treated.

Hi, DS had glue ear and is hard of hearing (moderate hearing loss). If the glue ear doesn't fluctuate much, ie sometimes she can hear well, sometimes she can't, I think they give hearing aids now if it is severe enough. However we wanted DS to have grommets, as well as his hearing aids.

If your DD has reduced hearing a lot of the time, then when you speak to her make sure she can see your face. Also, make sure you are close to her, rather than across the room, this can make quite a bit of difference. Cutting out background noise will help as well. So, try to cut the amount of TV and radio in the background.

Does your DD try to communicate with you? Does she indicate when she wants things? As willowthecat said, it is useful to think about how she communicates to you as well as you to her.

I hope the glue ear is resolved soon.

I also meant to say that the National Deaf Children's Society is very very good. They have a forum where you can ask questions to other parents of children with glue ear.
They also have a 0800 number where you can talk to an audiologist about your worries or to get further info.

We rang them when DS was first diagnosed at 7 weeks and they were really helpful.

http://www.ndcs.org.uk/

ok, so I am rubbish at links! try again.

www.ndcs.org.uk/

Have you tries signing? It would help her communicate her basic needs. Some good games is to play with bubbles, blow some bubbles and then, say ready steady (and try to tell her to say GO) and blow bubbles, followed by lots of praises. She might say GO but blow the bubbles anyway if she makes any sounds. Encourage sounds for animals, cars, trains, etc. Encourage her to play any instruments and make lots of noise and praise her is she makes lots of noises. Encourage her to drink with a straw, and also blow in a straw (we do this with watery paint on paper, then DS blows in the straw and moves the paint around). You can also encourage blowing by playing with small feathers you can get in a craft show. This is to encourage the child to use and develop muscles in the mouth.

In my experience, some children make very very fast progress once they have been fitted with gromets. My DS had glue ear and his speech developed very very slowly after it was sorted out. It really depends on the child.

Thank you for all your comments and I will def try the link above thanx.
In response to willowthecat about other concerns its just the fact that I cannot seem to get her attention long enough to try things to encourage her such as looking at pic books or singing songs etc its quite hard to get her attention+especially then to keep it, not sure if that's just coz she is young(+busy!)

will she follow your point 'Look dd, look at that!!' if you make a big fuss of seeing something interesting ? Or if she wants something, will she get your attention by gesturing or pointing? Will she turn her head if her name is called? (obv may be difficult to judge this one with hearing issue) You should mention any other concerns at the next appointment - if it all self resolves with age then you won't have wasted time or have got her 'labelled' but if some extra help is needed then the sooner you ask for it the better.

Osospecial, I could have written your post. My DS is 20 months and also has glue ear. We are currently under an audiologist but have been told that he is currently too young to be seen by an ENT consultant (ie too young for treatment like grommets as yet).

He is due to have a brain stem audiological assessment in a couple of weeks - this is when they take measurements while the child is asleep because he just will not wear the bone conduction headphones or have anything shoved into his ears and becomes very distressed. This means testing is not working, and they can't currently confirm if his underlying hearing is ok and it is 'just' glue ear. I am not sure what the next step will be after this.

My DS has no words at all and indicates what he wants by pointing and grunting/yelling... does your DC do similar? His understanding has definitely come on in the past couple of months but I find the same when it comes to engaging him long enough to do an activity to 'help' speech. My DS is currently obsessed with his books and will point at certain things if you ask 'where's...?' and he also understands certain concepts like wash hands, change nappy, get shoes etc. I've found this has been easier with repetition and pointing or making gestures to show what you mean. I think these are the main concepts to try and get across at present. However, I do worry he is behind in comprehension as you obviously are yourself.

It's recommended everywhere on mumsnet, but you could try reading It Takes Two to Talk www.winslow-cat.com/it-takes-two-to-talk.html - not cheap but very useful for ideas and support.

Keep in touch because I'd love to know how you get on - we are in completely the same boat here.

Willowthecat-no she doesn't follow my point however much fuss I make over what I can see. She points herself at a pic in a book sometimes tho. She is getting better at looking when I call her name but is still only about half the time I'd say.

Musicmaiden-thanx for your feedback, its always useful to speak to somebody experiencing the same type of thing.

I'm surprised that they have told you your DS is too young for ENT specialist in your area. I was told in the last hearing test that in my hospital, in the next few weeks the hearing test people and ENT will be joining together +DD will have a joint appointment with both when we go back in 6weeks time.

DD is usually exactly the same about people touching her ears and It was horrible having to hold her down several times at docs when she had ear infections and sometimes we had2 leave without doc getting a proper look she got so worked up, however she took me by suprise+was better at the hearing test+let the lady look in her ear and she actually kept the headphones on2!

This showed her hearing would be ok if it wasn't blocked up apart from the very lowest sound that they would like to test again +she confirmed she had all stuff behind the ear+that her hearing without the headphones was below average.

The things you say about understanding to get shoes,where is? +wash hands etc, my DD would not understand any of this+this worries me just as much as the talking but I think I need to get more repetitive and keep to just one or two things to start with. She loves her ball so I try ask her where is the ball/or can u get the ball? But she obviously doesn't understand what I'm saying , I think maybe I just need to make sure I ask the same couple of things everyday+hope this helps her pick it up. Thanks for the link 2, I will def try that.

Good luck with your DS too+hope the brain stem assessment goes ok, will def keep in touch.

Blueberry pancake_just saw your response+wanted to say thanx, lots of good things I will definitely try on there, I have bubbles in the house so will be trying that one later

Hello oh so special,

I had two kids with no hearing problems who also couldn't understand basic commands at this age (both fine now but one especially needed a lot of help - let's just say I had to drop my hobbies for a good couple of years....)

"It Takes Two" is always a good starting point and well worth getting.

I would recommend the two DVDs "Teach me to Listen and Obey" (don't be put off by the title please). These are both available from the "Teach me to Talk" website (www.teachmetotalk.com). It is rare to find quality materials focussed on helping kids understand and listen (as opposed to just speaking!).

Do keep mentioning that she can't follow basic commands - it will help the health professionals to know this .

Oh, it's great you managed to get her tested properly, that's probably half the battle. I am hoping the brain stem thing might prompt further action. As always I am sure it's down to the individual health care trust about when you get referred to a consultant. I'd be interested to hear what they say about treatment for her at her age. Obviously a lot of kids get glue ear but at this very young age when they should be learning to talk, it's sad if anything impedes that. :(

Yes, at some point I realised that DS didn't seem to be picking words up from ordinary talking, so repetition is the way forward (while obviously keeping your voice quite bright and exciting, not that easy after the 50th look at the same book etc!). The Two to Talk book I recommended talks about making it very child-led, ie talking to her about stuff that she is doing and that is holding her interest, rather than things you think she should be interested in, which was a bit of a learning curve for me.

A good time we found to introduce the 'where's duck?' etc was in the bath, as there's not much else to distract them. If she has a small number of rubber floaty things (duck, boat, whale etc) you can line them up on the bath and name them and push them back into the water saying 'bye bye duck!' and that sort of thing, and wash their faces with a sponge Makka-Pakka style.

Another thing people will say is that it is less about actual words than about communication at this stage. How does she ask for what she wants? Will she point at the fridge or at something on a shelf? Pointing ? or 'shared attention' ? is quite a big deal in child development.

@musicmaiden re too young for grommet at 20 month: my DD (3) had her first set of grommets at 17 month....she was seen by an ENT consultant shortly after her firs birthday.

Have you considered cranial osteopathy (I know it's not eberyones cup of tea). Ds had glue ear and couldn't hear at all above a certain pitch and barely responded to us. After 3 sessions of CO, his hearing was within an acceptable range.

Faverolles beat me to it. My son was diagnosed with glue ear at hospital when he was little - back in 2000. It was quite pronounced, one eardrum completely not working, one poor. Someone said try C.O. I was very skeptical. Went to Kath Harry\harries? In Melbourn, Near Cambridge. Think we had two sessions - she said "its his diaphragm" and after seemingly barely touching him said "ive made significant changes today". Well what do you know? We went back to hosp for follow up appt and they were amazed. Never went back. I cannot encourage you enough to give this a go. Perhaps it was a massive co incidence, but i was beyond impressed!

Ds had his first set of grommets at 20 months. Made a huge difference to his talking.

I wasn't keen on the idea of grommets to begin with if the ENT do suggest them next time because they have to be put to sleep+its an operation which is a bit scary but I also know glue ear can last ages I don't want DD to suffer+get more behind in her speech etc, can I ask DeWe wot the operation was like for her DS please? Did it hurt afterwards or have to stay in hospital overnight?

Bluberrypancake-thanks for the bubbles idea I tried it last night, ready, steady...
She didn't actually say go but was trying very hard2 +did make other noises while trying, it was just good to get her attention+keep it tho for much longer than usual, she didn't wander off for ages, I will keep doing it for a little bit every day+hope she picks up how to say 'go' after a few more tries

osospecial, as mentioned above, DD had grommets at 17 month. the surgery itself took only about 10 mins (it is a really quick procedure). our hospital requires one parent to come into the prep-room for the surgery and be present while they put your child to sleep (did it in our case with a face mask and gas). I then had to leave and was called back into the wake-up room after 30 mins to collect DD. she was quite disorientated straight after the op and was crying hysterical for more than 1 hour (was told this happens quite often). DD then fell asleep. then woke up, had something to eat and drink and was fine. went home the same day and that was it (no post-op problems). though I understand why you worry. I was the same and for me the general anesthetic was the biggest concern.

He's had grommets twice. the first time (at 20 months) he didn't seem to be in pain afterwards but his temperature came up that evening so he had to have antibiotics.

This time (age 3.9yrs) he did complain that his ears hurt afterwards, but calpol seemed to be sufficient. His ears were fine within a day or so.

Both times I think the hardest point was he woke up and found himself in a strange room without me. He did cry hard for a while both times. I think if they had allowed me to be there when he woke he'd have been better. The second time he was a bit distressed by the drip in his hand. They put it in while he was asleep so he woke up with it in his hand.

For him we read the Usborne book "Going to Hospital" which is about a little boy going for an ear operation. Little bit dated, and the boy does stay in overnight, but fairly good. Also on the BBC website there's a Something Special episode in a hospital (search "Something Special hospital")

Neither time he had to stay in. They want to make sure that he was eating fine after the op. The first time it was touch and go whether they wanted him to stay overnight because of the temperature coming up, but after he'd eaten a large meal they decided he'd be fine to go as long as I monitored the temperature.