What to expect with life after grommets

[rachndan]

Hi all,

Our 18 month old daughter has had glue ear for a while and she was put down to have grommets fitted. The NHS appointment waiting time was 4 months so we went private as the waiting time was only 2 weeks.

We werent sure whether it was her hearing that was delaying her development or whether she has some form of ASD as well.

She doesnt speak at all. She babbles but nothing that even comes close to a word other than perhaps "hi ya".

She does have some other autistic traits too but not loads.

Anyway the grommets were fitted yesterday and we were just wondering what to expect from her and how quickly?

She is definitely responding to her name more and other sounds but not quite what we were expecting. I am sure it will be starting from scratch but just looking for experiences from others in a similar boat.

Thanks

Bump

I think you need to wait and see. glue ear can be a red herring.

DD got grommets at 18 months. her speech delay and other issues were blamed on her glue ear.

grommets totally sorted her mid ear infections and fevers and pain that went with it but she made not much progress speech and language wise and we have now a dx of autism.

paed and salt said they would expect to see significant progress within a relatively short time with speech following grommets but we had little after 4-5 weeks.

did you have a hearing test pre surgery? how compromised was her hearing?

The hearing tests werent much joy to be honest as she was not interested nor happy at sitting on our lap for that. The pressure tests did show a blockage and that she could only hear moderate to loud.

How long did it take to get the autism diagnosis from having the grommets fitted?

I still suspect autism.

What "traits" did your daughter have?

long. we got grommets at 18 months but the autism DX only just before 4th birthday even though she is severely affected. but generally (your area may be different) you don't get it quick. there is a lot of wait and see esp under 2 or 3 years old. we only were referred at 3 and then it easily take one or 2 years to get a dx. it is not quick.

and don't get ahead of yourself. just see what happens over the next weeks and months.

at 18 months the trails weren't many - mainy lack of speech and more importantly, lack of understanding speech. many 18 months old don't say much but they understand, can follow simple instructions, communicate (pointing etc). my DC did non of there.

and the complete lack of play skills.it was just repetitive stuff.

have you looked at the M-CHAT and checked if it flags her up as high risk?

Hi,

We are in the same boat as your daughter was. She understands no. But she doesnt follow any commands - at all.

We have done the checks online and a lot of them mirrored the hearing check list too.

She does not point, she does not wave, she does not talk. She does like to play with other children (and loves it when her sister chases her) but she does prefer her own company - whether that is due to the last 6 months of reduced hearing I dont know.

She doesnt really do anything that is repetitive. She is a bit of a nightmare when it comes to eating - at nursery she wont eat a thing, even though she likes the things they are offering her!

I would give it some time but if nothing happens in the next months, I'd push for further assessments.

are you having any reviews with the paed or are you only under ENT right now?

Ds has had grommets at 20 months, 3.6yo and 6yo.
I've never found an instant reaction. To be quite fair he was quite ill after the first one (admitted due to sickness bug 3 days later when he couldn't keep anything down, so nothing to do with the op) so it might have been masked.

But it's much more the little things. I remember him saying after his 6yo ones in autumn "the leaves didn't crunch last year, mummy" and I realised that was the difference in his hearing. He couldn't hear it, and now with his grommets, he could. He swore that they just hadn't crunched properly the previous year.
Before his 20 months op he had a cute little habit of wanting to be carried by me and if he wanted to talk to me he would pat my cheek to get me to face him. I thought it was just being dc#3 he was trying to make sure he and he only had my attention not his sisters. He stopped doing it, and I assume he'd grown out of the habit. Then he started doing it again just over a year later. He did it at ENT. They pointed out that he was turning my face so he could lip read and the carrying was so he had his ear near my mouth.
But he didn't need to do it when his grommets were in.
It's much easier to see these little things looking back than when they're happening and hoping for big improvements.

I thought he might well be on the autistic spectrum when younger. GP/ENT kept saying that glue ear behaviour can mimic it, and I needed to wait and see. I think until he was about 6/7yo I was expecting the school to want him assessed. They didn't. He's now 10yo and you can see traces of the behaviour that worried me still (don't ask him to walk near sand!!) but that's small traces, and I don't worry about that now, even though he still has glue ear, he can cope with it.

Hi I can see this is an old thread but I am going through the exact same.and jusy wondering if your DD ever received an autism diagnosis if your still around x