Speech and hearing at 19 months - glue ear

[snickersnack]

Took ds to see an ENT consultant last week - referred by GP because of recurrent ear infections. He checked ds over, and said that he has glue ear, and enlarged adenoids and tonsils, and referred us for a hearing test next week.

My sense is that ds can hear, and hear fairly well - he seems to understand what we're saying to him, and responds appropriately, but he doesn't talk at all. A handful of words that I think I understand (but only really part words - "do" is "dog", I think, and "mi" is "milk") and he doesn't say Mama or Dada. Consultant said he was late speaking, and he'd expect him to have some/more words by now. He has said that regardless of the results of the hearing test he's happy to refer us for SALT but said "at this age it would be more for you than for him". Which I take to mean it would be giving us strategies for helping him talk, rather than actually teaching him.

Is it worth taking him up on the referral? From a brief search on the internet, I feel we are doing what we should in terms of talking to him - we offer him choices, reinforce verbally what he's communicated to us, talk to him about what he's doing etc.

Also, and slightly separately, ds's balance is awful - he's been walking for ages, and is very agile (climbs huge structures, leaps around) but frequently topples over when walking in a straight line or even when standing up. Is this a side effect of glue ear? (I forgot to ask the consultant...)

I am very keen to know about the balance issue as my 14month old is very agile but like your DS is always falling over.......might be because he runs everywhere!

SALT referals are really hard to get, I teach and they can take months. I would grab it with both hands!

A SALT referral is quicker via your GP then a school - FYIW

I would also take any referral you can get your hands on ... it will benefit him and you. Good Luck

yes, get the referral.

My DD2 is a late talker, she is almost 30 mths & can say mummy, no & mine clearly. Everything else has the first letter missing, ie daddy is a-e, (c)at, (s)nake.

She has had a hearing test & has mild hearing loss at low sounds. SHe can understand almost everything, but I guess because she can't hear low sounds, her speech is behind. I have also send a salt who gave me some hints & tips (which I was doing anyway).

The audiologist said there has been success with taking dairy out of the diet, so she is now dairy-free, until the next hearing test.

As far as I know, she's never had an ear infection, but there is congestion, so I am hoping the dairy free (therefore not a mucus producing diet) will help.

HTH

I have a 19 month old who doesn't speak either (his only word is yes and he makes many animal sounds - miao, woof, quack, monkey sounds , etc... but still doesn't say mum or dad!!!!) and HV said that she is concerned about it. At next visit we will discuss hearing tests. But I am conviced that he can hear well, he is very sensitive to music and understand so many things that we say. He is very happy and I'm conviced that his play is 'right for his age'.

If your ds has glue ear, I would definitely take the referal. My ds has never had problems with his ears, so I'm not too concerned about it, although I might discuss it soon with HV.

Thanks everyone, I think I'll see what the hearing test results are then go back for the referral.

The idea of a dairy-free ds is terrifying. He currently lives on milk, cheese, fruit and bread. Take out dairy and he'd be even skinnier than he is now...but it's worth considering if it will help his hearing.

I had glue ear as a child and enlarged tonsils and adenoids.

My mum thought my hearing was ok, it wasn't until the hearing test that she discovered i had been lipreading an awful lot which hid the problem.
My balance was awful as well.
I was a little older when diagnosed, around 4, my speech was a little behind compared to others but oddly enough i read very early on (before i started school).

I had grommets and adenoids were removed. My hearing was fine after that and my balance was also fine. My speech caught up very quickly without the need for further intervention.

My hearing is deteriorating now but i think that is due to industrial environment more than my history of ear infections etc.
I'm waiting to see an ent person at the moment.

I remember from working with families of preschoolers with hearing difficulties reading research which indicated that parents of children under 2 almost never identified hearing difficulties of the glue ear type. Then i failed to do so myself!

Much better understanding than actual speech is classic of glue ear and just like my DS.

We took up the Speech and Language Therapy offer. It is hard to get the referral and you may need it later on. Also gave DH and I an impetus to reflect on how we spoke to DS. Although we both felt we are doing the right things no one is perfect and it also helped us keep track of where he was at different times so we have a map of his language development. Really simple language - one to two words, is the key, even if your DC is understanding a lot more than this. That was the mistake i made, using too long sentences because i knew he was understanding.

incidentally i should say that although we had exactly your concerns at 19 months he is now 31 months and is using five or six words together, lots of verbs, pronouns are coming on, so your DC will get there.

TMMP - that's really very interesting indeed. Because his understanding really is very good, which made me wonder how he could have hearing problems. He had the test this morning ? one ear is fine, the other has quite a lot of fluid in, but he was still hearing on that side ? not brilliantly, but adequately. The technician (who did say she wasn?t an expert on speech) said she didn?t think the impairment was sufficient to cause a problem for his speech.

I was sort of hoping in some ways that it would be the hearing that was the problem, because that is fixable (if it is glue ear that is causing it). If he is hearing, but just not speaking, then that seems more problematic. I think we will go for the SALT referral ? my hesitation is due to the fact that we saw the consultant privately, covered by my medical insurance. So any referral would be to a private SALT and that wouldn?t be covered by the policy. I suppose we could go back to the GP and ask for it to be done through the NHS, but that would take ages as it isn?t really a priority case. I think we?ll probably just have to find the money ? I agree with what you say about it being helpful to have a benchmark for how he?s developing and get some hints. I have an older dd, who has always been a very articulate and fluent talker, and I think I probably make the mistake of talking to ds as I do to dd ? fast, and in complex sentences.

smickersnack, my appointments came through very quickly, so please do try for it. Your HV should be able to help.

Ref the dairy, the audilogist suggested this & said they have a very good success rate. If they can't hear low sounds, they won't pick up the 's' so guess would be gue, lost = lot.

My dd is light, too. She is fine on the rice milk & she can eat butter (something happens to it during the process apparently so it doesn't cause problems) I gave her some walnuts yesterday, which are full of good fats & she gobbled those up (DD1 wouldn't touch them ) Good chance to get creative with the cooking too

Also agree with the 2 word sentances - it's more achievable for the child, "so want drink ?" "coat on" etc is the way to go !