Glue Ear and 'bad behaviour'

[Bomper]

Dd2 (3) has been displaying very 'challenging' behaviour lately, at home and at pre-school. Throwing tantrums, not doing as she is told and generally seeming very angry a lot of the time. Today, she has been for an audiology exam, and has been diagnosed with glue ear. I have not had any experience of this, but could this be why she has been behaving as she has?

Yes.

Yorkiegirl's DD had glue ear, has had grommets and is a different child.

Try covering your ears wth your fingers - that's what it's like with glue ear. Now imagine you can't hear what anyone's saying to you - or even what you are saying. No wonder you would shout, get grumpy and generally be hard to live with. Poor DD. Get to a specialist asap.

DD (4) had her grommets in on Tuesday - she is so much nicer to have around tis a bit surreal!!!!!!!!!!! Shame we had over 2 years of horridness to put up with before she got them done!

She has been given a follow up appointment in 3 months time, they want to see if it will clear up on its own or need more invasive treatment. She has been particularly 'difficult' at nursery, perhaps this is because of all the background noise, do you think?

My ds has had glue ear throughout his childhood. Make sure his teachers are aware, as it does impact on their behaviour - if only in that they can't hear instructions.

Three sets of grommets and t-tubes later - there is light at the end of the tunnel .

Yes - this applies to one of ds's friends (age 3). Her mother was told she hears things as though her head was stuck in a bucket of water - imagine the frustration of never quite being able to work out what the words are and hence what they might mean.

Yes. Two of my three had grommits (and adenoids, tonsils removed) for glue ear - ds2's behaviour was dreadful.

It was the best thing we ever did. He was a non-sleeping, non-verbal, headbanging nightmare and we were on the road to having him assessed for ASD. He was a different child afterwards.

How does your dd sleep Bomper?

As a baby - awful, she was a nightmare, and totally unlike my other two children, but she is pretty good now. I know it sounds awful, but I was almost relieved when she was diagnosed, as there is now a 'reason' for her behaviour, whereas before I was adrift with no idea what to do with her. Does that make sense?