Grommets - when will we see an improvement?

[Susiejo77]

Hi there, I’m hoping there might be some experienced mums that have been through what we are at the moment.

So, my baby boy is 17months tomorrow and he had grommets fitted two days ago. I am yet to see an improvement in his responsiveness, he rarely responds to his name, although did for a short time before the grommet operation but only to my voice. I presumed he’d got used to the sound of my voice muffled as he rarely responds to any of the nursery staff. He had persistent glue ear ( I think for sometime) failed 3hearing tests - it wasn’t clearing up on its own.

You read about parents noticing a real difference after grommets, sadly that hasn’t been the reality for me and I’m slightly devastated as I’d so hoped he’d turn when I called his name after he’d calmed down after surgery. If anything he seems less responsive - could it be all the other sounds he’s hearing distracting him maybe?

Just wondering if any other mums had the same as this and whether they saw gradual improvements or does it sound like my boys grommets aren’t the source of the problem?

ToDuk, thanks for post. DS does seem to be feeling better, I kept the pain relief up, gp said normal recovery for younger baby, the smell from the adenoids is going now too. Yesterday he returned to nursery and when I went to pick him up, they said his hearing was definitely improved. Although not talking, he was babbling in conversation with them lots more and being vocal, he sat through the whole of circle time for the first ever (always would walk off /loose interest) he was humming the twinkle twinkle little star tune, not with words just humming the tune. I took him to the supermarket and showed him two toy cars and I’m sure I heard ‘that ond’ And he gestured to the one he wanted. I might be wishing so badly to hear things. I realise he’s not saying any new words clearly but there does definitely seem to be an improvement in him wanting to communicate. I did spend some time on mchat Biscuitrules, it was difficult because 3 questions he failed on could be because of hearing? He failed on not responding to name/do you ever think your child is deaf, mimicking and pointing to things of interest. I think he scored 5 on the test, which is scary. So, cestlavielife
I took Jude to the gp and expressed my concerns and they said no behavioural paedatrician will review him until after 2 - so I guess it would have to be a private assesssment. You mentioned Hayley test and griffiths assessment - how do I organise those? Also, midsummabreak, I’ve booked DS into a celestial clinic mid June, they are going to do a full body check, to see if he has any more allergies, there is a theory about your gut affecting your brain, so we will explore this as he does have the dairy allergy and he was such a sickly baby before we realised what was going on. He did miss out on a lot of interaction in the first 8months as he had such extreme reflux and then he would feed refuse due to pain - did spend all day writing logs of how much formula I got into him and it would be like 1ounce 20feeds a day, I’d wake him 3times in the night to get the ounces into him as he wasn’t taking in enough. So, I am wondering cantousewcushions is that all that reflux and mucus from the dairy allergy caused the glue ear and maybe that’s why he is so far behind now because it would have started as a young baby. He didn’t grow out of the reflux until he was 10months old. Let hope now he seems to be feeling better, we will start to see improvement over the next few weeks 🤞

Great to hear he has been recovering and enjoying music at nursery best wishes Baby Susiejo & Susiejo

Thanks for the support! I’ll update you with his progress 🤞🤞🤞

DD had severe glue ear and was not communicating/responding. We were told that if glue ear was to blame, then we would see an improvement pretty quickly (the main reason for grommets were severe mid ear infections though which would not respond to antibiotics anymore and a permanently ill DD).

but glue ear can be a red herring. DD had hers at 18 months and a months later, there wasn't much progress (ear infections had stopped but not much difference in communication). in the end, it turned out DD had underlying developmental problems (autism) which had nothing to do with glue ear.

I can see in your posts that you are worried there is more to it. hopefully, things will improve but if there isn't much change, I really would push for a referral to a development paed for further assessments.

Thanks missadasmith, I’m just wondering if there was any signs of improvement at all from your daughter within that month? Trying to make more signs, better concerntration? There has definitely been small improvements with my son, it’s been 20days since his operation and he was really ill for a week after the op. He hasn’t made huge improvement apart from his sleep, which is 100% better than it used to be. He used to sleep with me as he’d be up in the night 3-4times distressed and I’d have to comfort him, he was pain from his ears I suspect now, he also had sleep apnea, which scared me. He is now fully back in his own room and cot and sleeping through the night, it feels amazing to get my sleep back. Behaviour wise he is trying to make more sounds - but they do sound quite off ( I suspect from not hearing for sometime) later he may need speech therapy. He now sits through the whole of circle time at nursery, he used to be not interested and seemed disengaged - nursery have said he’s sitting on members of staff and definitely so much happier. So, this is the strange part, I pick him up from nursery and call his name and he responds and comes running (as he’s pleased to go home) while we are home though he once again ignores his name 80% of the time, the nursery staff say they think it’s selective hearing, I wonder what those of you with autistic children think? As could it be one sided, shows joint attention again but only for things he wants? We have also had pointing, pointing at pictures on the nursery walls and yesterday I was chatting to one of the other mums before leaving for quite sometime and DS directly pointed to the door and as I leant closer he pointed directly at the door handle as if to say, stop talking mummy I want to go home. So, I guess what I’m saying missadasmith is, that while I haven’t seen the huge improvement I had hoped for he is definitely more engaged, concerntrate more and is trying to communicate more even though I’ve had no clear words as such and he responds to his name when it suits him. In you’re experience as a mother and your past suitation does this sound similar progress?

In a month at 17m old he isn't going to suddenly start using lots of words. He needs a good period of just hearing them first. It sounds like there have been lots 9f positive signs. Look at rhe link I sent you again. When he starts pointing at something give him the word for it. Get him to look at your face as you say it then if he is pointing at the door you can say yes door, or go if that's what he is trying to communicate. When he is looking at you say it again and give him a moment to process it. I would be looking for him to start to imitate the words you modelled but I wouldn't put any pressure on him for that to happen yet. He is going to need lots of deliberate and intentional modelling of vocabulary from you and everyone else. He needs to hear simple single naming words and some functional words that will help him communicate his needs eg more or go
Hope that helps.

ToDuk, thank you so much for this advice! I will next time say door and get him to look at me and then say it again. Do you think I should get him some extra help in the way of speech therapy or a therapist that teaches deaf children like yourself? I will start to put into practice what you have said x

Take every opportunity to model words to him. When he has his lunch do it. Pass him the spoon and say "spoon" really clearly when he is looking at you. Maybe try saying it a couple of times and holding it out and waiting for him to vocalise. Even if it doesn't sound like spoon give him a big cheer.
A teacher of the deaf wouldn't get involved with him unless he was wearing hearing aids, at least that is the criteria in our area.

And unfortunately I don't think a speech therapist would get involved yet either as he is too young although you could see if they run any drop ins in your area, or ask your GP for a referral.
Do also look on the NDCS website for their info on glue ear and also on learning to talk. You can register for free as a parent and access their resources.

Thank you so much for all this advice - I will let you know how we progress 🤞

ToDuk I checked out that website was so helpful, esp the video. So, thank you for that! I took some cues from it and Yesterday I sat with DS while he had his lunch we had lots of hmmmm and yum yums and he enjoyed feeding me too ☺️. He has also started to do the hand twisting actions to wind the bobbin up and even hums part of the tune when I stop singing. Yesterday my husband and I took him to the park and when I stopped singing the song, it literally sounded like he was singing wind the bobbin up - admittedly very mumbled - but it sounded so much like it my husbands eyes welled up with surprise 🤞🤞🤞 now he is fully recovered and not scared of the new hearing sounds that we are starting to see improvements. I’m still unsure why his gestures would be limited before the grommets, but since then we have pointing (although limited he’s definitely trying to communicate ) and the wind the bobbin up twisting arms so seems the hearing has improved this too, thank you for you help!!

So, just had the hearing tested again and only normal reading in left ear, they got nothing from the right ear and when they put sound to the right ear he looked left 🤦‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ I had noticed he kept poking and pulling the right ear that they got no reading from. We have to wait 3mth for another hearing test test - the worry is not over

When my daughter had grommets, she woke up and could hear everything immediately. She told everyone she had new ears.

Hello
Sorry to hear about the test today. Did they give you any explanation? It sounds like there might be a more long term underlying issue with one ear. Good he has normal hearing on one side though. There's some stuff on unilateral hearing loss on the NDCS website.

It's funny but it does sometimes seem like a light goes on when a child gets some hearing and things like signing and actions wake up too and the child generally engages more. Sounds like that's what has happened here.

tillytoodles thats the normal pattern if the issue is just glue ear.

Hi there yes there has definitely been more eye contact, he’s a happier baby, enjoying play more and being engaged, loves the singing and humming but still distracted and non responsive to name. I’d say he’s 50% better than he was and that kinda explains it well if now finally he can hear out of one ear well. I thought the fact he turn left when they played the sounds to the right ear was a tell tell sign there was a problem. I had noticed it previously at home when I called him and he’d look in the stone direction but I put this down to him getting used to hearing. They didn’t really suggest anything to me other than it potentially being his age - loss of concerntration during the hearing test. Now I wish I’d asked so many more questions - another hearing test in 3months was all that was offered. But, now I’m thinking if he is deaf in one ear is there not a simple test we could do to find out? I’d hate for him to continual to be delayed like this. I’m starting to feel like we are to the bottom of what’s been wrong, but I know so little about it and wasn’t prepared to ask the right questions.

They absolutely can test to see if he has one sided loss. They can mask the hearing. They can also do timpanic tests to find out if there is still glue ear in the bad ear.

If the worst comes to the worst and it turns out he has a significant permanent loss in one ear please don't panic. I have several children on my caseload with that and they do very well. There is technology available if that's appropriate too. We can chat about it when you know more if you like.

Hi ToDuk, thank you so much for your advise on this! They did actually do a timpani test to see if the grommets were open and the glue ear had gone, he was also examined afterwards. So, we know there is no glue ear currently.

I'm a little unsure why the ent consultant suggested waiting 3 months? perhaps its due to his young age, i'm guessing it could be down to two things he lost interest and got distracted in the hearing test, although him looking in the wrong direction worried me. He idd say at this age its difficult to get complete corporation - maybe thats why he suggested waiting to do another test in 3months when he's a little older? I'm wondering if there are ay signs tests i can do at home to see if his hearing is limited to the one side? Do you think it would be worth me phoning the consultant and asking about the test for unilateral hearing or is it too soon? I have booked a private speech therapist coming to visit us at home on Monday, she does specialise in conductive hearing loss but unsure on unilateral hearing loss. I feel a bit lost at the moment as to what is best to do!

ToDuk worried I may have jumped the gun here in a panic, do I need a speech therapist that can teach me makaton?

Sorry, immediate improvement here too. It sounds like he needs to get over his immediate temperature etc before you start worrying. Hope all goes well.

Hello

Maybe ENT just want to see what develops over the next 3 months and to give him time to make some progress?

There are disadvantages of course to only having 1 ear work properly but don't panic too much. Chikdren learn language reallt well with only 1 ear working, and this may well turn out to be a temporary thing. It really does sound like you are starting o see progress now and I'm sure this will continue. Hopefully the speech therapist will be able to give you some good activities to do too.

I'd be surprised if the speech therapist would get involved in teaching you makaton. There are some brilliant books you can get that I recommend to my families. Just trying to remember.... I think they're Usborne first signs books. You could use these to read with your child so you can both learn the key signs that you need. They're good for learning the sign and the spoken word together. Will see if I can find a link.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1904550045/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_1904550045?tag=mumsnetforum-21

Here's one but there are some others too.

So, I booked a private speech therapist to come and she him, she was the only one i spoke to that would come and visit us before he was 2. She was so frank with me, i was a bit taken back and then i was hysterically upset. What a journey we are on. I spoke about the glue ear, grommets and that we have seen improvements in concentration, eye contact, mumming tune etc.... and we aren't entirely sure if he can hear from the right ear at the moment - she said after a 1hr session which was also her spending a long time talking to me - that ds has a social communication delay and also delayed in interaction, play and attention - as he's doing all these things on his own terms. I said to her, would this be due to the lack of hearing and she said no, he was born like it!!!! Totally shocked, I then said do you mean Autism? She said she couldn't say, but when I asked if he could overcome these delays with therapy - she said mathematicians, scientists and people that are head of companies can be autistic so try not to worry. I took that as if she was saying she thought he was on the spectrum. Think i was a bit numb really and it didn't sink in - the following day - she sent me a text message saying if I wanted counselling she knew a really good one she'd highly recommend that she a lot of her clients with children with special needs. Well, that txt msg sent me into hysterics - luckily baby boy was napping as i was so upset.

I'm sorry but that is awful. I'm really sorry you've had this experience but the private speech therapist is well out of order here. In fact I'm so cross I barely know what to say.

There is so much overlap in deafness and autistic symptoms that at this stage someone like her who had only just met him is seriously crossing a professional line there. Please don't listen to her.