Has anyone's child had surgery for glue ear?

[eastendmummy]

DS who is just 2 has been diagnosed with glue ear. He has almost no language which was why I took him to the GP to request the hearing test and he's also been seeing a SLT the who suspected glue ear and that has now been confirmed.

I'm waiting for a referral from the GP to take him to an ENT specialist and I'm interested to hear from anyone who's DC has had surgery for glue ear - audiologist said in all likelihood it would be grommets.

How have they coped with the surgery? If they had speech delay, has it improved?

Any info would be much appreciated.

mine haven't, but my brother did when he was littlle
my mum said it was amazing, he suddenly could hear. when he came round he was a bit scared because everything seemed so loud to him, but he got used to it quickly and his language came on immensely

Thank you. Anyone else?

ds recovered super-fast from the surgery. Within 12 hours I would say. He had adenoids out too which makes it a bigger op. And the effect on his speech was miraculous - he went from no words (just before his 2nd birthday) to lots of words nearly overnight. Almost a year on his clarity of speech is still a little poor but in terms of content and sentence structure his kindergarten teacher tells me he's ahead of most of the class.

DS had grommets inserted and adenoids removed this time last year when he was nearly 3 for glue ear with significant bilateral hearing loss.
He recovered very well from surgery, but has develped a fear of drs etc - I think because of his language delay( also had very limited speech and understanding - So was totally in the dark at what was happening to him.

In the past year , we have seen amazing changes, he is a social, chattering little boy who is still behind in some speech but his understanding of language is fantastic.

We noticed a difference immediately ie day of surgery he was turning and listening to sounds he had never heard ( the doorbell, cooker buzzer, toys)

I now have a little boy who is happy, cheeky, chatty and will go into school not that far behind his peers

More than happy to answer specific questions

My dd aged 4 had grommets last oct. The change was almost instant and she recovered incredibly quickly. Her speech has improved very quickly. She was missing the first part of lots of words which has completely rectified itself now. She also complains about the clock tick being too loud!
She is also now very nearly at the top of her class in reading because she can hear and take part in what is going on.

Thanks ladies. It's great to hear such positive stories. DS has good comprehension and his lack of hearing isn't always obvious but the slt said that the sounds he makes and inability to mimic shows that it is affected. I feel so bad for him! I hope we can get it sorted quickly and fortunately he's on DH's health insurance which should reduce the wait. DS2 due in 5 weeks though so timing may be an issue!

DD had hers done just before christmas. Her hearing was pretty impaired which impacted on her speech. Sadly for her she reacted badly to the anaesthetic and spewed 12 times afterwards. Her speech has improved remarkably. the only down side from her POV is the ear plug/headband combo she has to wear to swim. We are going to see her consultant next week to be discharged from his care.

Hi
My 5 year old has got glue ear. Diagnosed about year ago. Hesitant about grommits for various reasons. Opted for hearing aids difference has been amazing. She was able to chose colour- chose bright bright purple. She's chuffed to bits with them and wears them 12 hours a day.Hopefully in a couple of years she'll outgrow glue ear. I personally felt this was best option in 1st instnace.Good luck

DD had grommets age 3 and coped amazingly. She was up and buying sweeties in home village 4hrs after the surgery. She had suffered with ear infections and glue ear for 8mths. They stopped completely and her hearing became perfect. She is now 6yrs and has in the last 6mths started getting hearing problems again. We've just seen the consultant who says she has glue ear again (grommets came out after 1yr-18mths) He doesn't want to risk another set of grommets yet as it may cause more scarring on the ear drum so we are trying a course of Azithromycin to try and clear it.
When you see the consultant just ask what all the options are, then you can decide. HTH. x

Thanks all for your very interesting and reassuring replies. It's great to hear how resiliant children are and also what an improvement you all saw in speech following grommets.