Child's hearing - failed test - advice pls

[JSSB]

My daughter has recently failed hearing test carried out in Reception by school nurse. We were advised by nurse to visit doctor to rule out obvious such as ear infection and have done so. She was subsequently tested again at school and passed. We want to pursue further though. As some further background when she was born she failed 2 separate hearing tests and was referred before passing one. It was raised as a concern by her nursery so took to doctor then who just looked in ears and said he couldn't see anything. She also has problems with speech. My question is is it possible to have intermittent hearing loss and has anyone been in similar situation and how did you pursue? Thank you.

I would be asking the gp about glue ear.
It is worth noting that colds, flu, hay fever, sinus, adenoids problems can cause temporary problems ŵith hearing.

Lots of children and adults fail hearing tests for no apparent reason one day and pass the next day. I think tiredness, boredom, mental distraction and also being distracted by internal noises such as heartbeat and stomach gurgling can also cause fails.

Is your dd under slt for her speech problems?

She has been seen by local authority SLT team who have said she is not bad enough to receive extra support. As with most of these things though local resources are stretched so having to prioritise. Luckily her school has dedicated support for speech and she has been having regular sessions with them. When I've spoken to them theyve said her vocabulary and ability to put across her thoughts and feelings is excellent. It is purely about her pronunciation. A major concern of mine is it affecting her school work. For example she knows all the phonics sounds and can blend and read. However when trying to spell words she seems to mishear sounds, for example p instead of g.

Insist on proper regular assessment by the hospital audiology department, intermittent auditory neuropathy is extremely rare. More likely is hearing loss affecting one or both ears partially which can affect speech development and apart from anything else is exhausting for the child trying to compensate. It is very easy for this to miss proper diagnosis in early childhood. Go on the NDCS parent forum for help, it is really good and you will get up to date advice. Struggling with one test could be easily shrugged off but more than one combined with speech issues mean you need to have her assessed by the experts at audiology who have a much better testing programme.

Thanks for your response. We feel quite guilty as have had lingering doubts but don't like to cause a fuss so haven't pushed this but think we need to now.