Glue ear advice

[mummyto2boysandagirl3]

Sorry I'm on here whinging again :(

My ds1 (4.5) has just been diagnosed with glue ear and moderate hearing loss in both ears. Iv always felt there was something not quite right but couldn't put my finger on what it was he was so bad age 2 I convinced myself he was on the spectrum. He was a c section baby so was full of fluid but I felt it was more than normal despite being told he was fine he failed 2 hearing tests as a baby and we had audiology out to house and he had a satisfactory result so discharged. However he constantly had wax/fluid leaking from his ears was told by gp not to worry. He was very late talking and had his own little language when he did start and didn't pronounce anything properly until almost 3.5. I kept flagging it with preschool Hv and gp all told me to stop worrying and he was fine. He started reception in sept and has not settled well. His teacher told me he had scored quite badly on a lot of tests and they had expected him to do better and she thought he couldn't hear v well. So gp referred to audiology who have confirmed glue ear & hearing loss they've said they normally monitor for 3 months but will see him in a month and send to ent as he has v v big tonsils and snores so suspect adenoids enlarged also. His teacher has said she thinks he's lip reading as he genuinely doesn't hear unless he's got eye contact with the person talking to him and she's worried about him falling behind. She's put him in the sen group so he's getting extra time and he's at front of class when she's teaching but she said he's trying so hard and he's really suffering. He's not a happy little boy at all at home either so tired and irritable. Is there anything I can do to help him and would a gp be able to refer to ent and skip this second audiology appointment?

I could have (and may have!) posted this exactly a year ago. We skipped straight to grommets and adenoids out (tonsils were ok) and it's made the world of difference in a number of ways.

My DD was also lip reading at school and whilst doing pretty well was having to work very hard to do so. She has gone up four reading levels since having grommets inserted in May of this year.

She is I'll less frequently, has put on weight - she was always underweight and not interested in food, apparently glue ear can impact taste.

She's a lot quieter and we don't have to have TV blaring

It's different for every child and I imagine every doctor is different too. Ours gave us the choice of having op or 'wait and see' and we have been very happy with decision to move ahead quickly - we were private, not sure if this makes a difference. I'd be surprised if your GP could do anything now you're under care of ENT but you could speak to consultant again?

My 15mo was diagnosed with glue ear at birth after failing her newborn screening and a follow up 3 weeks later. Since then we've been seen regularly in audiology, she has had mixed results since but always has congestion. I know she's a lot younger but we've been advised to continue with audiology until she's had 2 poor results in a row 3 months apart (she was too young to co operate when she was first seen, then had a poor result followed by a good one, her most recent one was the worst yet) because ENT won't do anything yet. They need to know that the poor results aren't just because of a cold or something.

I understand your frustration, I asked if we could be referred last time to get into the system but went with audiology's advice. I know your situation is a bit different because it's affecting his education though, I'm concerned about dd2's speech becoming affected

Thanks for the replies :)

if he had been 2 I would've been happier to leave it and see but we may as well have skipped reception he's getting that little out of it. He's struggling with friendships because he can't hear he's desperate to play football but we had to stop taking him as he was disruptive/not engaged as obviously he couldn't hear. I obviously don't want him having unnecessary surgery but I know he can't hear me. I have to talk v loud and make sure he's looking at me the tv ends up full blast as he's always turning it up. His behaviour is colourful at best as he's so tired from working 10x harder than the other children in his class and frustrated from not hearing clearly. And whilst i don't have medical proof I know this is not due to a cold and is a more long term thing it's just took me 4.5 years to get someone to listen to me :(

I'm just fed up of watching him unhappy I'd b happy for him to have an aid for a while but I know dh won't agree to that as he (ds1) wears glasses sigh

Lady it's nice to hear ur dd has done so well with the grommets 4 reading levels is amazing!!!

So sorry for moaning :(

Ds is similar.We're waiting for an appointment for his third set of grommets at present. (he's 6yo)

He also lip reads very well, and has difficulty hearing, particularly over winter.

ENT told me that his behaviour (I also was wondering if he was on the spectrum) was typical of a child with hearing loss. As proved when he has grommets in he is much better. In reception they could tell he had an ear infection by his behaviour-and were never wrong!

He's now in year 2 and his behaviour is much better even with hearing loss. He actually wanted hearing aids rather than grommets this time (a boy in his class has them) but ENT say he needs grommets as there is pressure in his inner ear causing it to bulge, so grommets should help that as well as hearing.

Ask to be referred (preferably with priority, your GP may be able to write a letter requesting that, mine did!) and underline the behaviour and struggling at school. When I mentioned struggling at school to ENT he had grommets in 2 days later! That was last time.

Hi dewe thank you for helping again(think u helped me on another thread of mine in education)

It's reassuring to hear how much the grommets help in going to get him in with gp ASAP and see if they'll refer to ent ill prob still have to take him to audiology but will just skip a lot of the waiting and him suffering. If I could afford private I'd do that but unfortunately we can't :(

How did/do u all deal with ppl thinking ur dc is just naughty? I get why ppl think that sometimes especially when I'm shouting him if he's run to the other end of the playground but it's really getting to me I'm feeling so fed up of everyone looking at me and thinking y did she have another 2 when she can't deal with the first one and thinking he's a horrible little boy :( he's not horrible he just can't hear as well as the other children