Experiences of hearing tests/speech therapy (for 4yo) please?!

[greenlawn]

I've been worried about my 4 yo ds for the past 9 months or so - specifically his hearing/language skills. He shouts most of the time and his language is still very babyish - he usually gets the beginnings of words but not the middle or the end! eg trainers becomes trailer, something else becomes summadell. He also sounds very congested all the time and his tonsils are pretty much permanently swollen (although he is never outwardly ill).

His gp referred him for a hearing test which was frankly a waste of time. The woman who did it was disinterested, rude and abrupt, and told me there was nothing wrong (all this in a 5 minute appointment). Since then, he has been for a school assessment and they have said his bvpt (vocab. pictures test?) score was lower than expected, and recommended we look into physical exams/speech therapy. Any experience of this? He is bright and confident, and seems to have good skills recognising written letters/writing, but this issue is worrying. I would really appreciate any similar experiences.

It does sound like speech therapy would be a help. Ask for a referral from your GP or HV asap and then be prepared to ring the SALT Dept on a regular basis to get that initial assessment as quickly as possible. They will do an assessment (picture book, your DS asked to say the key words they're looking for), and on the basis of that will recommend a course of SALT appointments. There's usually quite a lot of "homework" involved as well, but a good SALT can work wonders in a very small space of time.

I would also talk to your GP about the hearing/congestion thing again - 5 minutes doesn't seem long enough for any sort of conclusive test.

Thanks Hassled, we would really like to make a start on this before school starts - it was a special needs teacher who spotted it, so I do at least feel pleased they are alive to these things. I'd like to feel any ongoing physical problem has been ruled in or out, too, so I guess we'll try and do the two together.

The hearing test really was rubbish! The woman was giving him huge visual cues that a sound had been made, and then made me feel like a right OAP about it!

Thanks for your help.

who did he see for the hearing test? DS's hearing test was with audiology department, and must have taken at least 20 minutes - to conclude all was well. Speech therapy is as Hassled described - so nothing too worrying or stressful for you or DS. Is he at school/nursery? If so, what do they think of his speech and hearing?

TotalChaos, it was with the primary healthcare audiology department, referred by my gp! And I swear it was only 5 minutes - she literally peered into his ears, said "nothing wrong there", then put a set of headphones on him for maybe 2-3 minutes - he had to throw a brick into a bucket when he heard a noise, but the trouble was, she was sat in front of him holding the brick at the same time, and saying "did you hear that?" every time the machine beeped! Nursery had also noticed the shouting/speech, but no vocab. issue, but we were all reassured by the hearing test (rubbish as it was ...).

The special needs co-ordinator he saw seemed to think he would definitely benefit from speech therapy no matter what the cause, as he seems to have missed out on part of his development. So now I feel like a right bad mummy for not following up my concerns more forcefully ...

Hindsight is a wonderful thing - don't beat yourself up about anything at all. It's hard becoming forceful when that's not what you're normally like - 2 of my DCs have SEN and I've changed personality completely when it comes to nagging assorted parts of Children's Services.

But DO insist on another hearing test - your description of the test is shocking.

Thanks Hassled, I feel now at least a possible problem has been spotted and we can start doing something about it. The health professionals I've come across have generally been good, it just depends sometimes on getting access to the right people who know their stuff - and sometimes that does mean nagging.