Anyone with experience of referral to audiologist?

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DD has been referred to paediatric audiology after failing her reception age hearing screening twice.

Firstly I'm feeling Incredibly guilty as I always thought she was just in her own little world when we've struggled to get her attention and I just thought her 'not listening' was normal levels of 3/4 year old difficult behaviour!

I didn't think to get her hearing checked sooner because there were never any other warning signs really. Born full term, passed newborn hearing, never suffered from ear infections, was an early talker and reader, seems to get on very well at school. At her second parents evening the teachers did say they sometimes struggle to get her attention and advised waiting for the hearing screening, and now here we are...

I've made an appointment with the GP to rule out Glue Ear, but it's an 18week wait for the audiology appointment.

Just curious to hear from other parents who were referred and what the outcome was?

Thank you!

Can you pay to have it done privately, I've had a couple of appointments with an audiologist and it cost about £50 . I go to Click Hearing

GP can’t diagnosis glue ear but audiology can. My daughter was similiar but school didn’t notice any issue. She needed grommets as he glue ear got worse. It was a a 5 min operation for both ears. We werw advised for her to use putty for swimming and a band until they fell out.

Me and the kids are covered by Bupa through work so I have also contacted them to see if we can be seen earlier :)

Oh really?! Google suggested they can and GP have given us an appointment based on the info I gave them. In any case no harm in going and seeing what they say I suppose. Thanks :)

GP can look at the ear drum and see if it looks red or unusual but can't tell you if there is fluid there or how the middle ear bones are moving. They can tell you if there's wax present, but that's about it.

A hearing test is the only thing that will tell you what's going on. 18 weeks is a long time for paediatric audiology. Most high street audiologists won't do kids as it's harder to test them but there are some private specialists out there.

Glue ear is incredibly common - probably one in three kids experiences it at some point. It can be subtle and is often missed so don't feel guilty.

The Ewing Foundation is a charity which produces a really comprehensive guide to Glue Ear, implications and solutions.
https://ewing-foundation.org.uk/listening-to-learn/