Glue Ear- Please help!

[Sezzie1985]

Hi there.

I recently found out my 2.5 year old has glue ear, following a NHS hearing test. She also has a speech and language delay which why she was referred for the test.

At the time, when they told me about it, I was a bit in shock and didn't really ask any questions, so I'm hoping you lovely lot here can help and share your experiences.

They have asked her see her back in 3 months to assess the situation. If she still has glue ear, is it likely they will refer her for surgery for grommets?

If this is the case, it it still a long waiting list? I saw someone had posted previously saying because of COVID it is a really long wait.

If that's the case, how do I go about finding a private ENT specialist in my area?

I also read that someone said they saw a private ENT who was able to tell them how much fluid was in their child's ears (so the level of hearing loss) and also how long it had been there (which indicated if it was likely to clear in 3 months).

If I'm honest, I feel like I've massively let my daughter down by not trying to get this sorted for her sooner, and I feel bad that she hadn't been able to hear properly for a really long time.

She is such a happy little girl and I don't want her lack of S&L to hold her back.

I'd just really appreciate someone's take on the situation and to know all of the information I possibly can. Thank you for taking the time to read and respond xxx

My ds had glue ear diagnosed at about 2, and grommets. They were fantastic but came out after a year or so and he got glue ear again: struggled a bit in the early years of primary but was never quite bad enough on the day of testing to need aids.

Despite this, once he’d had the grommets his speech took off, and we took him to a children’s music class to help him develop his listening. He’s GCSE age now, grade 8+ on three instruments and never stops talking - hope that reassures you. The grommets were a game-changer for him.

My DD was diagnosed with glue ear at 3 years old. Her speech was very delayed and what she could say was unclear. She was actually diagnosed with a speech disorder but I think the glue ear was obviously not helping. I felt awful...I had only taken her for a hearing test to rule it out. I'd never have known she was having trouble hearing. This was a good few years ago now and she was referred straight away for grommets, so I'm not sure of the procedure or timelines now. Sorry that's probably not massively helpful! I hope things get sorted out for her soon

My son had muffled and delayed speech and had to wait just under a year for grommets As soon as he got them he honestly pretty much started talking straight away, it was amazing and he also had speech therapy to support him. He was the same age as your child. They are really common, just have to be careful they don't fall out but usually drs can see them etc when they look inside to check they are still there .

@Bwix you're on my wavelength / favourite hobby horse :)

I had severe glue ear as a child, tonsils and adenoids out + grommets just before I turned 4 then a bit of speech therapy to get me started. Lots and lots of music subsequently in my childhood (kodaly groups, learned recorder, violin then piano). I couldn't tune my violin till I was 12, my mother always knew in advance I was getting a cold as my playing went out of tune, but there was steady improvement. Music has become a major part of my life, but without so much of it, I might not have ever been able to appreciate music.

I truly believe that children with this sort of fluctuating early hearing problem need an enriched auditory environment if you possibly can, to maximise their developmental potential.

OP, it's early days for you still, hope you get the support and information you need. Treatments for glue ear seem to fluctuate a bit, earlier surgery vs early hearing aids and so on and so forth. Very best wishes.

Glue ear is really common in little kids - esp more petite ones as they have narrower / more easily blocked eustachian tubes. My sister & I had it & then both my DD's. lt often improves slightly in the summer months (with less colds around). They also tend to grow out of it by the time their 8/9. Grommets improve things almost immediately - DD2's speech improved in weeks & her tantrums within days. Ear aids can help but often get removed by very small people who find them annoying so would recommend grommets for preference.

My 2.5 yo has glue ear.
Had 2 hearing tests and was referred to ENT...was told the wait would be a year but he has an appointment for surgery 8 weeks after the ENT appointment.
Once you're on the waiting list make friends with the drs secretary and ask to be put on the cancellation list- also find out what priority they are and if low ask your GP to send a letter to support that be changed to high priority.

My daughter many years ago had glue ear and I was fortunate that my GP agreed with me that Grommets was not something I wanted her to have because she was so tiny and I had concerns about the anaesthetic.

Instead I researched and found an article on massage to manually drain the ears and I did this instead to relieve the pressure and drains the ears, thus avoiding the need for grommets and an anaesthetic.

As an infant she was very small for her age and didn't become a normal/average size until she was older.

Also re private specialist- most are the same that work for the NHS so ask the audiologist who she's being referred to and do a Google search to see which other hospitals they work in.
Ours didn't treat children in his private practice, but recommended a colleague in a neighbouring city and wrote a letter to him so we didn't have to go through the GP to be seen....glad we didn't pay privately now as we've actually been seen really quickly.

Our son was the same. Speech delayed and affected as he couldn't hear upper frequencies so had missing sounds in his speech. We were advised to have grommets but in but declined due to the (low) risk of permanent eardrum damage, and the fact that they grow out of it as their ear shape grows. He's also a late summer born. He's 11 now, just coming up to end of year 7, having passed his 11+ and more than caught up with his peers. So I would say don't worry!

My niece had glue ear. My sister didn't go for the grommets but instead they fitted her with a little hearing aid device. It wasn't permanent and being 3 years old she pulled it out all the time. Her glue ear has now resolved.

I have been through this and have sent you a pm. I got a private grommets op and paid for speech therapy. My dc started speaking much better 3 weeks after the grommets op and had age appropriate speech by age 4.

I had glue ear, 4 lots of grommets and now as an adult wear hearing aids.
No one knew I couldn't hear properly until I was about 5 and I couldn't hear a helicopter in the sky everyone else could hear.
Life's been OK, I have the added skill of lipreading. I used subtitles which made my reading speed very quick.
Don't beat yourself up about not realising, how would either of you know. She has no idea what the world is supposed to sound like, and you don't know what things sound like to her.
I remember being overwhelmed by the amount of noise when I first got grommets, same with hearing aids.

just to reassure you glue ear is very common in children under 6 due to the smaller less angled tube (Eustachian tube) that runs from ears to back of the throat. Hence any secretions coughs or colds or congestion can build up and remain temporarily behind the ear drums.
Added to that is at this age nose blowing is not a thing and so self clearance becomes harder.

a speech delay is common because the sound is having to pass through a watery space( middle ear space should be just air filled) so it reduces the sound as a result in effect you can only say what you can hear

ensure clear lip reading( no masks) when communicating so that she can see the movement so that she can form shape of the sounds ( all subconscious amazing !)

before SALT carry out assess they always like to rule out hearing loss. Although i would say in these time ensure your place on a waiting list because it is incredibly backlogged

They have asked her see her back in 3 months to assess the situation. If she still has glue ear, is it likely they will refer her for surgery for grommets?

yes that is watchful wait period as part of NICE guidance

if the glue (ome ) is still present they will refer to ENT but at triage ENT will also take note of any or no hearing loss.

At the same time your paed audiology service will still monitor

if hearing loss is present may offer temp aid bone conduction

glue at this age can and often self resolves without the need for grommets

private ENT do your due diligence

Please feel empowered that you reached out what an awful restricted time we have been through

Communication tactics
get her attention first
minimise background noise
inform nursery so they can seat her at front
keep communicating
enjoy your time

Nat Paed audiologist

Hi OP, my 3 year old has significant speech delay and our health visitor has referred to audiology to rule in/out glue ear.

Im concerned about NHS waiting lists so have booked him in with a private paediatric ENT. In my area, there is 1 private ENT consultant so we need to wait a couple months for the initial appt. If it helps, the initial consultation is £190.

I've also been looking at private SALT (will do this once hearing situation is clarified) as NHS have a waiting list of 12-18 months. Again, in my area, there's only one. Initial assessment is £100-£160 depending on time spent and £60 per session thereafter.

Hope this helps, I've literally just been dealing with this, the past week. If you're in the Glasgow area PM me - I'm happy to pass on details

Hi there,
My DD 2.4 has a severe receptive and language delay. She has glue ear (we dont know how long for) and had grommets in and an adenoidectomy just before she turned 2.
Unfortunately, the grommets going in were not the 'lightswitch' moment we thought they would be, what we realised a few months after was that her communication was seriously delayed. We were so focused on the hearing loss that we did not work on other aspects of her development (gestures, joint attention etc).
We are working really hard on her communication and she has done really well int he past few weeks, no where near talking though as we are basically gone back to a 1 year old level
My advice: get the grommets, start working on your childs non verbal communication skills, accept that there will be lost time to catch up on
Best of luck!

Hi can I ask how did you get on with this this sounds just like my LO At the min she's behind with her speech and I'm sure she has glue war waiting for a hearing test appointment to come xx

Hello, is there an update on your little one please

My DD is 2.5 and we are currently on the waiting list for audiology was referred in March and on a 7 month waiting list and also got SALT through video call end of September dd's got speech delay and doesn't always look at me when I say their name.. all the symptoms of it seem to match my dd ,he also puts his hands over his ears a lot and tries to put his finger in his ear..I've looked and can see so much guey wax in there..I've take him to see the Gp as he's had bad reflux a lot and a slight ear infection and they look and also comment he's got a lot of wax ...just feel helpless as this waiting list is so long..I may have to look into private myself at this rate

My daughter is 11 and has glue ear. Had adenoids and tonsils out 3 weeks ago but still ear pain and tinitus. We have post op appt next week but anxious the glue ear is still present and may remain. Has anyone
had same experience