DD is due to start reception in September and I'm really worried about how glue ear is going to affect her.
She has had repeated ear infections, both bacterial and fungal (urgh) and perforated ear drums each winter since she was 1. If anything, the frequency/severity of infections has reduced as she has got older, but the impact on her hearing seems worse.
She has had a couple of hearing tests and each time the appointment comes as we're coming out of a bout, so she has had some hearing loss but not significant for conversations apparently. We have never been referred to ENT. We are currently waiting for a hearing test again.
She has no speech issues but she shouts all. the. time. She seems to have no concept of the level others are talking at. She shouts at us and then gets frustrated as she thinks we're not replying, particularly in the car or from room to room. We have started shouting to be heard and all in all it feels like communicating with her is a loud and frustrating task. I am trying to encourage her to look at us when she has asked us something so that she knows we are replying. I make a real effort to make eye contact etc when talking to her. She has the TV and cds loud, but finds things like a school play for eg (no sound system) hard to follow.
I'm really worried that the hearing tests don't seem to show a problem that we notice so much and therefore we're not able to offer her much help. Could the shouting be learnt behaviour that she can't stop once her hearing comes back? Does she do better in hearing tests because it's a quiet environment and she's concentrating, or does she have some sort of behavioural issue with listening?
She is doing really well at nursery, manages to communicate with friends etc but I think the environment is different to school in that there will only be one teacher and no key worker etc who passes on or reiterates information.