Could he be hearing-impaired?

[ElphabaTheGreen]

DS2 4yo (5 in August) is in Reception and his behaviour is awful. A lot of it seems to be related to the fact that he completely ignores us a lot of the time to carry on down whatever destructive path he’s chosen to take. There’s times when I have to absolutely bellow his name to get him to look at me, and I’ve seen his swimming and gymnastics teachers doing exactly the same thing. His school teacher has never said anything though. He has no language delays or speech volume/quality issues which may indicate a hearing problem, but he does say, ‘What?’ a lot if you can get his attention to say something to him. There have also been a couple of instances recently where he has actually said that he couldn’t hear what I was saying.

Would it be overkill to ask the GP for an audiology referral even though I’m 99% sure it’s behavioural? DH and I are at a complete loss at times as to what on Earth to do with him, but I don’t want to be doing him a disservice if there’s something physiological going on.

Take him to the GP - hearing is always where they start for behavioural problems and if it's glue ear the GP will be able to see by looking in his ear.

I'd suggest you get an eye test too.

OK - thanks Sushi. He’s up to date with his eye tests - we take him every year, plus they’ve recently had eye tests in school which he passed with no problems.

My eldest ds is hearing impaired, he has a mild to moderate loss and is aided. If it hadnt of been picked up at the newborn screening then it wouldnt have been obvious at all. He also had no speech delay. Coincidentally i have my youngest awaiting a hearing test, he passed the newborn screening and even though no speech delay he replaces a lot of high frequency sounds with low frequency sounds in words. This could be just because hes 3.5, but its worth checking. I would def ask for a referral.

I asked for a referral this year for my child for similar reasons.

At no point was I made to feel bad for asking, it seemed everyone I came across thought it a sensible thing to rule out.

Go to your GP, it's perfectly fine

Does he possibly have an auditory processing problem?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditoryprocessingg_disorder

Auditory processing problems are not hearing problems they are a problem with the processing of what's being heard. In the same way dyslexic people have problems processing what they read/trouble reading. Auditory processing issues can occur along side/as well as learning disabilities such as dyslexia and dyspraxia.

Thanks lumpy. I’ve not ruled that out as a possibility (I’m an OT and when I worked in paeds, auditory processing was my partly bag along with SLT 🙈) but I think he’s a bit young to get a full gauge yet, and assessing the basic mechanics of hearing would be the first step.

I did post a thread [[https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/parenting/3576763-Struggling-with-4yo-DS2]] about his behaviour but got no replies (probably too long-winded )

Sorry - link fail:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/parenting/3576763-Struggling-with-4yo-DS2

DD2 is 4 and had just had grommets fitted after being diagnosed with glue ear. I took her to the drs because she talked loudly and often said 'what?' when we had spoken to her but she didn't have any speech delays or similar. After her operation the consultant said she had lots of sticky fluid behind her ear drum and her ear drums had ballooned. I would say it's definitely worth a trip to the drs although be prepared to wait. We ended up going private as the NHS wait was so long.

I posted this on someone else thread the other day - my 3 year’s speech is advanced for her age but she says what a lot and ignores us. Her hearing test showed she has glue ear.

Definitely ask for a referral for a hearing test and also get his eyes tested.

He had a lot of ear infections and ruptured eardrums as a baby. DS1 did as well and he’s fine, but it did occur to me that he already has a background of dodgy ears.

Sounds like classic Glue ear to me!

Watching his swimming lesson closely...teacher has told them to jump in. Child next to him has climbed in. DS2 is doing nothing, looking between other child and teacher as if to say, ‘Well what is it I’m supposed to be doing?’. Teacher shouted and mimed jumping in to DS2 and he did it.

I’ll get a GP appointment next week. Thanks guys

I agree sounds like glue ear to me! My 5yo had it too and it sometimes causes shocking behaviour.

I have permanent hearing loss and much as we don't let DD get away with anything unacceptable I do sympathise because being a deaf kid is exhausting and confusing!

Good luck at the Dr's. I'd push for a referral to audio straight away due to the behaviour problems.

Wow!! I've rethinking my 2.5yr old now...he has glue ear..both ears reduced hearing down to 50% but no speech or language delay - quite the opposite tbh but his behaviour....and I have several children....his behaviour is something different altogether! He's a lunatic! Challenging beyond his years! Could it all be the glue ear? Really??

Update - took him to the GP today and both his ears are completely blocked with wax. Is this a thing with glue ear? She wants me to put drops in his ears for the next two weeks then bring him back for another look and think about referring to audiology. She said there was no point while he had wax blocking his ears - which I get, but I’d have liked the referral anyway, with a view to cancelling the appointment if he doesn’t need it, but cutting down the wait if he does but hey, ho. I wasn’t able to get my usual GP who probably would have done this, but that’s a Tuesday after a bank holiday for you!

Hi Elphaba, yeah it can be a bit of a thing! I hope you can see your usual GP next time.

I think I saw on a programme that drops or oil in the ear don't help.