Speech delay and grommets...

[PDR]

My DS has really bad Glue Ear which was diagnosed last week (oficially - we've known for months) and we are now "watchfully waiting" for 3 months.

In the meantime he is missing out on another 3 months development - speech is significantly behind already.

We were told that grommets would not

We have private health insurance and today I phoned up the ENT consultant's secretary and asked if there was a medical reason why we had to wait until he was 3 and she said there wasn't....

SO what I'm really saying is should I just insist my DS has grommets fitted ASAP so he can hear again or should I just wait and hope it goes away by itself.

I should say that DS also has behavioural issues such as wanting to play alone, more tantrums that the usual 2yo, gets distressed in places with a lot of background noise eg. shops, playgroups etc. so I want this sorted as soon as possible as it's really impacting on our life!!!!

My son is 5 years old and had grommets fitted about 3 months ago, plus his adenoids removed. He didn't have problems with his speech, however, he was getting to the stage of being totally deaf and was in fact learning to lip read (noticed him looking at people's lips when they spoke to him).

Best thing we ever did was getting them done, it was an immediate improvement on his hearing and he seems like a much more confident child since the operation.

I really think he was missing a lot of what was going on in the classroom and with his peers.

Made a whole world of difference for my little boy and I wouldn't hesitate to get it done if my other children have the same problem.

Have to say though, I am not in the UK, here you have to go private so there are no waiting lists.

Just re-read my OP and in the 3rd paragraph I meant to write:

We were told that grommets would not be possible until he is 3 years old. Having read many old posts I now know that children much younger have had grommets fitted with positive effects.

I have spoken to our insurance company who have given me the go-ahead so hopefully will see ENT very soon.....

I know two children who have had grommets under 3. It must be a local hospital policy. You will have to be very persistent and firm. If you can go private, I think you should do it.

I've just finished the 3 month wait with ds (aged 6) and we have an appointment at the hospital.

My parents have been going mad and want us to go private (they'll pay) but the doctor explained that the wait and see policy is because most children grow out of it and even if they for grommits they are only a temporary measure. They may only work for 3- 6 months so they try to avoid the trauma of grommits where possible.

It is frustrating (ds's behaviour at school was appalling and he was always in trouble until we realised) but the doctors do have good reasons sometimes.

Blueberry yes I think it must be a local policy as I've seen quite a few threads on here relating to children under 3.

Speech therapy isn't availble to children under 3 on the NHS here either.

island I think that's my main concern - that I would be rushing into surgery unneccessarily - on the other hand - this is a crucial developmental time for my son and he has already quite behind!

I have discussed with DH and we think we will get an appointment with ENT consultant and he can have a proper look at DS and we will go with what he recommends. If that be wait 3 months and if no change go ahead with grommets so be it.

Would be interested to hear any experiences with grommets in under 3s in the meantime though - good and bad!!!

Hi PDR. My ds2 has had repeated ear infections since he was born - he has had more than a dozen perforated ear drums. He started to talk at one, but shortly after his hearing impairment from glue ear was so bad he stopped speaking altogether - not 'mumma' 'dadda' not a word. As a last resort he had grommets inserted at 2 1/2. That was young in our health authority - they do like to wait til 3 because of the risk of the anesthetic (very low, don't want to worry you), and because lots of children with glue ear get better around that age as their Eustachian tubes widen and drain properly.

But ds2 really was in danger of permanent hearing loss because of the repeated perforations so he had the op early.

And to out your mind at rest, within 2 weeks of the op my child could speak as well as any child his age. Friends and family were astonished at the rate of his development. Now his speech and language is ahead of his peers (as his pre school say).

I can completely understand your concern for your childs development. I was frantic to get those grommets fitted. I am no expert but provided the glue is not causing the drum to perforate, then it is not causing any permanent damage.

And one final observation - a good summer is often what a child needs for the glue to dry out / drain away, so grommets ops are very often defered. If in the autumn the child is still suffering from glue ear, they obviously havent grown out of it, but maybe after the three months are up the problem will have gone without surgery.

I hope that helps. Ds2 had perfect hearing at his last test - but unfortunately now the grommet is infected and he faces another operation, and possible hearing loss - hence my feeling that surgery really is the last resort.
Good luck.

DD#1 had grommets when she was 2yrs8mth old due to persistant glue ear and speech issues. Unfortunately her speech issues were more than just glue ear related, but we did notice a difference in her behaviour and attitude once they were done. We had 6mth waiting initially and then told wait a further 3 months but we were not prepared to do that and took her privately and they were in 3 weeks later. They stayed in for 18months one ear and 22 months in the other ear, so lasted a lot longer than average. We had no complications with them and so far so good since they fell out, she doesn't have glue ear.