DD's audiology report says "could not sit still" this isn't unusual for a three year old surely?

[used2bthin]

She's got glue ear and they also put that she was unable to complete the toy test. haven't had a copy of this btw I was reading it at the Gp's she is going to write to the audiologist to ask for further advice with the glue ear because DD has been discharged.

Ifeel it is a bit pointless to write that DD could not do the toy test and "was unable to sit still throughot the assessment" then not suggest any furtherhelp or assessment. And is it that unusual to not sit still for a three year old? I have got pmt so not sure if I am being a bit over the to but I feel like she was implying there were other issues to cover herself but not wanting to go so far as to say it for sure because then someone might have to do something.

i dont think ive met a 3 year old who can keep still. if you come across 1 my sister said she will swap for her ds who is 3 and never sits still if he can help it.

I think that it is an indication that perhaps your DD has a lower attention span than they might expect. It very much depends how old your three year old is. If she is 3.0, then she is only just not 2, ifyswim, so that would be more expected than if she was 3.11 (bearing in mind that some 4.0 year olds would start school).

DD1 had her ears tested on her 3rd birthday, and she couldn't sit still for the test or complete it, but she has SN, Global development delay, so it wasn't a surprise at all.

What do you think? Is she your first, or do you have/know other children of similar ages? Do you think there are any issues, or do you think she behaves as you would expect? Does she go to preschool, and have they raised any concerns?

ds1 had several repeat audiology tests. He lost interest halfway through his tests at that age. They were repeated 6 month apart so as to allow him to mature more. This is standard hospital policy. It could be worth suggesting to the gp.

sorry meant that it is standard hospital policy for this hospital - it may not be universal.

I think it depends a lot on the personality of the child as to whether they can keep still so I wouldn't worry on that score at the moment.

Thanks for replies. Lou she is just three, in fact the appointment was the week of her third birthday I think. Our community nurse came out to go through achecklist with me after the audiology appointment previous to thsi one because they suggested she had other issues causing her s and l delay as well as the glue ear. The nurse felt that she was age appropriate for everything apart from speech and language and her concetration skills both of which can be explained by her glue ear and that we should just wait and see. It just feels like everyone is passing the buck a bit, the SALT saying oh well she's got glue ear and the audiologists saying but her glue ear is not enough to need anything done about it then hinting about other issues.

Sorry realised I didn't actually answer! Also hadnt said about her speech and language issues, she has had SALT for a year but not very consistently.

Reassuring to hear that other children her age can't sit still.

Lou she is my first but I am a nursery nurse (or was) and I think her play is age appropriate she has a group of children she sees a lot all of whom speak far more than her but she does manage to join in most of time especially if the game is quite physical.

I don't know, I worry when I see how much more other children can say and I feel like she doesn't stay still enough to actually listen even if she could hear if that makes sense. So hard to unpick it from the hearing and speech and language issues and tell what is what.

used2bthin, I think that when there is a S&L delay, the first question they ponder is "is there a delay for a physical reason or a developmental one?".

Audiology have identified the glue ear, which is a physical reason. Just three is young. I think you should be reassured, and don't worry about the comment on the report.

Thank you Lou yes that makes a lot of sense. They don't want to do anything about the glue ear though whichg I find hard as it seems like everyone is saying she has lots of issues but no one actually is prepared to do much about them.

However the GP has written to the audiologist asking for some advice re the glue ear so I probably need to just not dwell on it you are right.

Meant to say poor you and your DD having a hearing test on her brthday! Hope you went to the cafe for cake after! I find the hearing appointments more stressful than endocrine ones, I always feel a bit as if Iam being assessed too.

The reason they right this down is for future reference. If your daughter is assessed at any time in the future for anything else, these extra details may help them. My ds2 had an audiology test because of s&l delay. He also had an ophthalmology test due to a squint (poor little thing, not a lot going for him really He has since been assessed and dx with ADHD and all the previous reports were used to assist in that dx process. At the time, I can remember thinking, "why the bloody hell did she write that he squeezed her arm during the test?" .... this later contributed to his lack of personal space awareness.

My DD did sit still for both of her tests (she's 3.5) BUT from what I understand that is very unusual - the audiologists seemed amazed that she did, so I would say that your DD is most definitely in the majority.

At one point towards the end the audiologist said, "Oh, we've lost her interest" and I said, "No you haven't, she can't hear you". Luckily the assistant audiologist backed me up and said that DD was looking to her for clues bu was still concentrating.

Get your GP to get you re-referred (is that a word?) as they should have at least offered a watching wait period of three months for another test.

ICANDOTHAT that makes sense. I think it irritated me because the letter wasn't for me it was for the doctors and usually with our other appointments I get a copy. I'm really lucky that my GP is great though and is relaxed but still getting stuff done.

LilRedWG I asked the GP to refer us back but she said she'd write for advice first. DD was found to have glue ear and failed two hearing tests previously so this was a third one. Is really hard to tell the difference between not paying attention and not hearing soetimes isn't it? Or at least its hard to convince other people sometimes!

I agree with I can do that. Last year, my DD had lots of audiology tests for glue ear. (she was 2 at the time). One test she failed to complete - got bored half way through. They noted that and then in the next test, they used the younger test on her. When I asked about it, they explained to me that at 2, she was in a difficult age because she was a bit too old for one test (the puppet one that appears on a sound cue and they have to look at the puppet) but a bit too young for the other test (putting toys in a specific place when she heard the beep). So when she failed to complete the older test, they made a note to make sure that next time (a couple of months later) she sat the younger test iyswim. It could be no more than that.

ellokitty that isinteresting DD's notes also say she failed to do the toy test (the bus thing) so she just did the puppet thing which she hated. I was just the seperate sentences that wound me up a bit it read like this

DD failed to complete the toy test

She was terrified of the cat puppet

She was unable to sit still throughout the assessment.

I am aware that now sound completely unreasonable I have got terrible pmt!

Good point though, Ithink we will proably be going back for another appointment at some point this winter so at least they will know that she may be unable to concentrate for long. She tends to go blank when adults she doesn't know that well talk to her or in fact when anyone starts being too direct with quesioning her. The SALTseems to think this is not uncommon with children with a s and l delay.

Hi, Maybe they're just explaining why the test was incomplete, rather than the person reading the test results assuming that it was because she isn't capable.

My DS is 3 years old in 4 weeks time. He sat the test yesterday and it went a bit like this...
he spent the first 30 seconds behind my leg until I sat down so there was no where for him to hide. He then ran over to the corner, before he saw the toys on the table and decided to sit down. It was the 'put the men in the boat when you hear the noise' test. Sometimes he is willing to do as you ask, but not all the time and yesterday, everytime he was asked, he just kept saying no and puting his arms around the men so no one else could either. He just wanted to count the men and refused to put them in the boat.

So they then decided to do the test for 0-3 to see if he would react to the noise. He didn't EVER react to the noise, but turned his head when the light went on the first couple of times it happened. He was just so preoccupied with the toys.

I was expecting the audiologist to say that he couldn't hear properly, but she said that it can't be his hearing because if it was, DS would have reacted to the louder sounds.
They couldn't check his ears because DS wouldn't let them.

On the form they put that there was no eye contact at all. I wouldn't say this is usual for him though because he is normally very interactive with everyone. In fact we struggle with the 'don't talk to strangers' advice. He was full of cold, been up since 5am and given calpol so I wonder if this attributed to his behaviour. I didn't want to cancel the appointment though because we'd waited 3 months for it.

He has S&L difficulties which is why we were there. We've seen the Speech Therapist a few times and she seemed convinced that he is saying words but they are very hard to make out. This, she thinks, is caused by muscle weakness in the front of his mouth due to sucking a dummy until recently. It sounds like gibberish, but once you work out one of the words is, you understand what he's asking. E.g. This morning he repeated a sentence of gibberish a few times, all I could make out was 'Mummy and what sounded like octpairs. Once he pointed to the stairs I realised he was trying to say 'upstairs'. He was overcome with joy once I worked out what he was asking.

Should my mind be put to rest that he shows understanding, in that he follows instructions sometimes? Or should I be concerned that when he is concentrating on something, he seems oblivious to anything else going on?

My family think there's nothing wrong with him other than stubborn and lazy. My Dad laughs that I am concerned about this 'coming from the girl who didn't say a word until she was 2 and a half!' he jokes.

Sorry should have started my own thread but unsure how. I'd be interested to hear yours and anyone elses opinion.

Family and friends are rarely a good guide to child development but it's encouraging that the SALT feels he is trying to say words. Would he follow an instruction that was a bit odd or out of context - 'Get your shoes from the bathroom' if you normally have shoes in the hall. Are his concentration and play skills age appropriate ?

JFG sorry you are worried too. I think his speech sounds very like my DDs although she tends to sort of say the middle of words. The SALTalso mentioned muscle weakness for her so I have been doing bubble blowing and various other things with her to strengthen them and she has a special straw to help with this.

The fact that your DS is trying to communicate is positive in itself, DD's SALT has always said lets get her talking then work on making it clear. So now that she is trying I am releived.

As for the hearing test I was confused about the light too because DD seemed to me to turn when the light came on. It seems odd to have a light when testing for hearing as must be had to tell what they are reacting to.

My DS is 3.8 and would sit still if asked by someone in authority, or if asked by me if I could provide a good reason/incentive. However, no way would he have sat still at 3.0 - there is a big difference.

crokky thanks for that, yes that is so true and DD was actually not quite three at the appointment iirc.

That has made me think though, about the incentive thing. DD doesn't seem to respond well to "if you do xx you can have xx/do xx later" she only really responds to here and now type stuff and more in a bribery way than incentive if that makes sense (ie with food or soemthing else which is immediate). wondered if this was hearing or concentration related or just that her understanding isn't quite there yet about the future. Friends with younger children find it works so DD seems unusual.

Thanks cyberseraphim and used2bthin. I suppose the lights might be to see if the child reacts at all.

My DS is able to follow instructions very well at times and sometimes he just blanks me out altogether. I've worked out that instead of just shouting at him and puting him on the naughty step, I ask him if he wants to go on the naughty step, he says 'no'. Then I tell him he has until the count of 3 to do as I ask or he will go on the naughtly step. This works really well at home but never when we are out. He has a vast knowledge of words because he goes at speed through books naming all the items. I try to correct his pronunciation but it's difficult as he's already naming everything else on the page.

I have been looking into age appropriate knowledge and skills and until recently would have considered him to be average, but I realise there are some things he should be doing that he's not. He can't pedal a tricycle, thread beads, is still in nappies and can't draw a circle. However he hasn't had the opportunity to cycle much or to thread beads. He doesn't go to nursery and it never ocurred to me to thread beads with him until now. Although he got a tricycle last Christmas with a parent handle, I was pregnant and very sick so rarely took him out on it and am not able to now I've a pram to push. He never crawled and walked at 15 months 3 days and only learnt to jump at 2.7 years.

Re Potty Training - unsure if it's related. He seems happy to wear a nappy. He can hold off going for about 3 hours but would rather wear a nappy than use the toilet. My husband's going to take a few days off work next week to see if we can make any progress.

JFG - It sounds like there is some good understanding to build on and your SALT should be able to advise you if there are any other issues that you should be working on. Will the results of the hearing test go anywhere in the system - Will there be any follow up?

Hi, Sorry couldn't find this thread for a while.

Yes he now has a combined ENT and Audiology appointment in a few weeks time. My concern is that he won't let the doctors check inside his ears. I'll have to try to explain to him first and fingers crossed.

I was overjoyed as yesterday he said a sentence! I asked him if he wanted cucumber to which he replied, 'no thank you mum, I sausage'. I had a great tip from someone who said I was trying too hard to get him to say sentences, work on linking two words together, then three. Usually he would say 'milk' so I have been working on 'milk please' then 'milk please mummy'. He has also stopped dribbling.

Dribbling was the reason he became referred for Audiology in the first instance. At the time he had a dummy and walked round with a spare in his hand too. We binned them a couple of months ago when I realised he had muscle weakness caused by the dummy. I had been told time and time again by the HV that he must be teething, so I let him have his dummy because I felt sorry for him.

Now I am a lot more positive. Since talking to friends, everyone seems to know of a child who has refused to do the audiology test. It is quite common so chin up everyone!