Positive stories of improvement after grommets

[user1468575728]

Hi,

Just over two weeks ago our son had grommets fitted. He is 2.5 years old and we think he has been suffering from bad glue ear for 9 months to a year. He was well behind with his speech, very poor socially and was always playing with his ears.

Since the grommets we have had some great progress. He is constantly babbling and saying new words all the time. For the first time ever he is repeating words that he hears and has started pointing at things like trees when we are out. He is also on the whole much happier, brighter and aware of what is going on around him.

The area we are keenest to see improvements in are his social skills. He has always been very social with his parents and people he knows but with strangers and other kids at nursery he would often act like they weren't there. This isn't surprising considering he has spend nearly 50% of his life living like he had his head under water. Since the grommets there have been some positive signs. He has started to play around other children more whereas before he would usually take himself off to a quiet corner. On a couple of occasions he has babbled to other children which again was unthinkable before the grommets.

So on the whole very positive and I wondered if anybody else has had similar experiences and how long it took before their child started to interact more with other children? We know it has only been 2 weeks and he has made a lot of progress. I admit we are guilty of hoping he will immediately catch up with his peers which isn't realistic. We need to be looking at this over the course of 3-6 months not 2 weeks.

It would be great to hear your positive stories and to help us manage our expectations.

I may late with response here but thought it was good to share our recent experience as I found the whole process completely confusing and actually not very straight forward!
I was concerned about my son around a year old as he wasn’t attempting words but was very good at understanding what we were saying to him. It got to about 18 months and we had one word, but he would point, do all the animal noises and again, understand things like “get your shoes”, “pick up your cup etc”. I raised with a health visitor who said yes he should be saying more but it seems he can hear.... I pushes for a hearing test that August. After chasing she had forgotten to refer several times so it ended up being November. Hearing test on the nhs went on for over an hour (my son at this point was 22 months old) and the first test confirmed glue ear, however they told me as he wouldn’t sit still that after an hour, they couldn’t tell me if he could hear or not. I was told the glue ear would clear up and they’d see me in 6 months. I was not happy with that so will gotni. Touch with bupa as we have private.
Within two weeks were told it was glue ear and consultant wanted to test again in 2 months. We went back and it was even worse 2 months later. He explained that toddlers can, very commonly, appear to have very good hearing with glue ear. We were referred to Portland hospital London who performed a separate hearing test that took only 10 mins. We were told he had significant hearing loss :( within two weeks my son had grommets and adenoids removed. The adenoids are apparently a big cause!!! The consultant told us both ears were solid, had probably been there since he was 10 months old and both adenoids were full of Mucas!!
This happened yesterday and already we’ve seen a difference. The doorbell rang last night and we could believe his reaction 😊
I felt compelled to share this as had we’ve had waited, I believe significant problems may have started occurring for my son down the line, especially approaching ore school age.
I love the nhs but have to say, we were definitely failed and 6 months on, we are still waiting for the follow up hearing test....
If you can go private, do it.
I wonder if anyone on here had a son a similar age to mine when they had this done and when they started to notice speech improvement?

Hope this helps!

Hiya just wondering if any of you have updates on how your kids are doing now @oslogirl1 @user1468575728 @loppyloo5 i am in the exact same position now grommets inserted this week but don't know if hearing related or ASD. Wpuld love to hear from you guys :)

Hi Newmomma2705. My son went on to be diagnosed with autism and sensory processing disorder. He also still has glue ear and has had 3 sets of grommets to date. He has just turned 6. We did see and still see a lot of improvements after grommets. We can also tell when glue eat has returned as his behaviour changes over night. It’s been a long journey for us and we are still learning everyday. I’m happy to answer any questions you have.

Thank you all, that topic is really helpful.

Thanks you so much @loppyloo5 how is your DS now? Can you rmemeber back to his first grommets did his speech come on then? My DD is 3 She can say a very few odd words but not much I think we are also going down the ASD route but hoping the speech picks up. xx

I loved this thread, I can recognize so much with my own son who got grommets inserted 3 months ago. He is 2 yrs 2 months old, we believe he has had glue ears for 9 months or more. Feels like he also has been in his own bubble, but slowly bursting out of it. More social with us, showing us things and more interaction. But no pointing yet, but will stretch for things he wants. Understands more and more and can go get us things we ask for. Only new definite words are mummy and daddy. However, not seeing improvement with other children, he is still ignoring them.

Any chance to get an update from @user1468575728 and @oslogirl1 how your children are developing?

Huge improvements. Grommets at nearly 3 and then 6 years old. Wasn't just on the hearing front: it became more possible to swim and gain confidence in the water (although had to be very careful with various layers of protection), and it also sorted out a previous tendency to car sickness, because the ear had affected balance.

In terms of social skills, though, it's quite likely that other children now seem a lot louder than they were. Even when aged about 6--8, so old enough to keep trying, there were some things that DD hated: hand dryers, and squealy noise or loud music in echoey places. The most available holiday club here is in a huge gym for most of the day. Tried it, and persisted, but she just couldn't deal with it and would get quite stressed by that. Seek out other options that might really float his boat - I tried other holiday clubs with things like a petting zoo session, for example, where there was much more outside time, and she got enthusiastic about that which made her more tolerant and willing to go.

One of the most memorable things was that we had a toddler toy that consists of a house with lots of doors and different sounding doorbells. She was adamant the people in it were called 'Gink' and 'Gonk' which I found quite funny. When we got it out again we remarked on that and she looked sideways at us and said 'They weren't called Gink and Gonk...I called them Ding and Dong.' Possibly just speech scrambling, but more likely a consequence of hearing scrambling.

@user1468575728

Hey, if you are still on here could you please give an update on your son? Thanks

@oslogirl1

If you are still about I'd love to hear an update from you, even a pm would be really appreciated. Thank you

Hi @riverrock22, grommets helped but we ended up with an autism diagnosis. We mostly resolved the glue ear by cutting out all gluten and dairy. This led us down another rabbit hole about gut/digestive health which we are still working on today. We've had loads of success and I would say he's 50% better than what he was although there is plenty still to do. My advice to anybody on here who is struggling with glue ear is to really take the diet aspect seriously. The NHS will often turn their noses up at the suggestion that glue ear can be cured in this way but I can promise you we cut out dairy and gluten and his glue ear resolved within 2 weeks. You do need to be strict though for the best results.

This is such. Great thread and one that is needed when it comes to glue ear. DS was diagnosed glue ear Nov 22 through audiology, he was about 19 months. Fast forward three hearing tests later and two ENT appointments 4 months apart and lots of fighting and chasing. My DS is scheduled to have his grommets and adenoids removal in a few weeks. As others have mentioned I too am concerned my child is on the ASD spectrum and when you have moderate hearing loss going on a year without it, it’s hard to tell if it’s just his hearing. He has terrible balance, always falling and can’t jump etc we have been seeing private salt and OT for sensory needs which have made a difference but the most difference was seen after cutting out majority diary and limiting gluten. My DS now makes eye contact and joint attention also attempting to copy and be overall a lot happier. I definitely agree with OP to try out dairy free and gluten free diet for LO. I am hoping that after this procedure I will see a difference in DS and his speech will improve but because of the social aspect I am well prepared for ASD and we are currently on the waiting list for this.

if your child has glue ear and once they have had their second hearing test three months apart, do not wait. Request grommets and if you’re not listened to go private. The NHS have a tight budget and need justify carrying out procedures, they care about their numbers. The early years of a child development is the foundation years for speech and communication. My DS is also using a hearing aid while awaiting surgery. All the best and thank you OP for such an amazing thread.

Hi @user1468575728 I know this is such an old post but I’m keen to know how your son is now? Taking a chance you might see it.