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Primary education

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Original poster

DD failed hearing test at school

29 replies

Eveiebaby · 19/11/2011 20:27

Not sure if this is the appropriate board to post but as it happened at school....

DD is five and a half and the school nurse called to say she did not meet the criteria for passing the hearing test. She has referred her to audiology ( I think? - DP took the message and could not remember and did not ask any questions Hmm.

Has anybody had any experience of this or the type of hearing tests they do at the hospital for a five year old?

I'm slightly concerend as would have asked the nurse lots of questions if I had taken the call myself hence my post. I don't have the nurses number but I suppose I could ask the school but in the meantime can anybody help?

Thanks

OP posts:
mrz · 19/11/2011 20:36

It's very common for young children to fail the hearing test and be referred to the audiologist so don't worry.

It's a case of putting on a headset and listening to sounds of different frequencies in each ear and the child indicating if they heard

Sparklingbrook · 19/11/2011 20:39

DS1 had this. He failed the school one every term for 3 terms and finally got referred to Audiologist. He had the headset test and they said his hearing was 'within normal range'.

Do you think DD has a problem hearing?

mrz · 19/11/2011 20:42

It's very common for children's hearing to be up and down at this age particularly when they have a cold or are just recovering from one.

schnitzelvoncrumm · 19/11/2011 20:43

They put on a headset and listen for sounds at varying frequencies and varying volumes. They press a button when they hear a noise. For younger or more nervous children, the sound isn't played through a headset but through speakers. They drop a toy into a basket when they hear a noise. This allows the audiologists to produce an audiogram, which is like a map of what hearing levels your DD has at varying frequencies.

It's good that it's been picked up. Your DD may just have wax in the ears or may have some underlying hearing loss that may be treated (by grommets for glue ear, for example) or helped (by hearing aids)

dizzyday07 · 19/11/2011 21:40

My DD's hearing was found to be not quite as it should in one ear when she was tested in Reception. She xan't quite hear the low decibels and as it was the same in 2 further tests (listening with earphones and pushing a buuton) she was referred to the hospital consultant.

She has seen them every 6 months since (now in Yr 2) and we have another appointment booked for Jan. She has slight congestion behind the ear drum but it's not getting any worse - and it is definately not severe enough for grommets.

We've been told that it is something that she should grow out of

Makingchanges · 19/11/2011 21:51

Dd had this. Was referred to hospital and had tests where listen to noises with earphones and haf to put blocks on sticks when heard noise. First test was still below normal and we were told to come back in 6 months. This time test was normal and she was discharged from hospital. Don't worry it happens to lots of children at this age.

Pseudonym99 · 19/11/2011 21:55

" school nurse called to say she did not meet the criteria for passing the hearing test. She has referred her to audiology ( I think? - DP took the message and could not remember and did not ask any questions . "

Medical staff are terrible at this. They should put things in writing, include their contact details and provide an internet address of where to find further information. You cannot expect someone caught "off guard" to suddenly be able to come up with a load of questions out of thin air. By acting in this manner, doctors and nurses are able to maintain an inappropriate air of authority over us mortals who are not qualified in these things.

Pseudonym99 · 19/11/2011 21:56

Which county do you live in, OP?

Michaelahpurple · 19/11/2011 22:02

My son had hearing problems from glue ear, which can manifest itself as you have experienced. I would have sworn he could hear fine, but was totally wrong. He had 2 or 3 sets of grommets and they transformed his speech, balance and running.
Just chase them from a proper follow up test and you will soon see if there is a real problem, or if your DC had a bit of a cold, or just wasn't concentrating :-)
Are they all tested, or was this done because school was concerned?

south345 · 19/11/2011 22:05

They're all tested in reception here for hearing and sight problems.

IndigoBell · 19/11/2011 22:15

Evie - DDs done AIT hasn't she? So you know she doesn't have hearing problems.

Isn't it most likely that she didn't understand what she had to do, or that she wasn't directed well enough, or didn't feel like being compliant?

Original poster
Eveiebaby · 19/11/2011 22:22

Thanks everybody for your posts they have been most helpful.

If anything I would say DD hears too well eg aeroplanes before I do or the slighest noise, however in a busy environment she can have difficulties with attention and listening to speech. She does have special needs so I am wondering if her hearing could be part of the bigger picture. I shall wait for the appoinment to come through and chase it up if I haven't heard within a few weeks.
Pseudonym - Greater London

OP posts:
Original poster
Eveiebaby · 19/11/2011 22:30

Indigo - Yes, but I'm not sure - who's to say it has worked? ( she was too young to have the audiogram so I have no before/after to compare anything with) and now I'm thinking - what if it's damaged her hearing.

I'm pretty certain she would have been able to follow the instruction if it was just pressing a button or raising her hand to the beep (I guess I need to find out exactly what the test involved). I would have thought that the school would have just done a retest in a few weeks time so I'm surprised they have referred her to the hospital but maybe they are just being extra vigilant due to her special needs - lets hope it's all a fuss over nothing.

OP posts:
IndigoBell · 19/11/2011 23:05

They can't do a retest in a couple of weeks - the school nurse who does the test only comes in once a year.

Plus th school nurse who does the test isn't an audiologist and so refers everyone she has any concerns about as standard.

Hard thing now is making sure you get an appointment. The school nurse referred DS2 to the ophthalmologist and the appt never came through.

If you haven't got an appt in a few weeks I'd go to your GP and ask to be referred to the audiologist.

Its almost certainly the school nurse being over cautious.

mrz · 20/11/2011 07:53

In my county the in school hearing test is carried out by a qualified audiologist not by the school nurse Hmm The problem is the environment isn't optimal for accurate results and lots of children don't get referred.

ibizagirl · 20/11/2011 08:57

Dd had this test when she had just got over an ear infection! And i told the teacher she was blocked up. Still did the test and got a letter saying unsatisfactory. I just ignored it and when she had another test at school it was perfect. Don't worry about it too much unless YOU think there may be a problem.

RiversideMum · 20/11/2011 09:32

If your child has special needs, it could be that the nature of the test was not suitable - eg she did not fully understand what she was supposed to do, or was distracted by the different environment or that she was with an adult she did not know. I find it hard to believe they don't re-test. What if some of the children were away from school that day? Are they not going to re-test for a whole year?

mrz · 20/11/2011 09:36

In my county the audiologist comes back to test any children who were missed plus retest those who failed the test first time in the next school term.

goinggetstough · 20/11/2011 09:53

ibizagirl glad your DD's hearing was OK. These tests do though sometimes flag up problems that even the parents don't realise exist e.g. hearing loss at particular frequencies etc So don't be too quick to ignore an extra test just to make sure. IME experience there is usually a long waiting list for ENT appointments. Sadly my DS and I have spent many an hour in an ENT department!

lilystar · 20/11/2011 11:34

My dd failed hers in reception and they retested a couple of months later at which point it came back ok, so some LAs do test again. Our school nurse is also in the school at least once every half term.

However we were told she had failed by letter, which also advised there was no great cause for concern, and there would be a retest, which seems a slightly better way to go about it. She would have been referred on had she failed the second time.

When I asked her about it, she said that she hadn't been completely sure what to do (probably hadn't listened well enough).

jasperc163 · 20/11/2011 13:50

hi eviebaby - its very concerning i know as I have just had this as well. I hope all turns out ok but at least they are communicating with you and referring. My DD (6) had her test 2 weeks ago and I got a letter on friday which just said 'Failed' and retest next term. No more information at all which i think is appalling. I have been trying to get hold of the school nurse (NHS) since friday morning to try to get some more detail but no luck so far.

Acousis · 23/02/2013 21:56

Hello. I am a clinical scientist in audiology. Dependent on your county some state schools do have the school nurse hearing screen. They are generally fairly crude as screen to a minimum level considered to be top of normal range and the test environment can sometimes be difficult. Having said that a referral to audiology is a good start if they have detected some hearing difficulty. It would havebeen helpful for them to speak directly to you. The audiologist should use headphones and perform play audiometry where your child will be asked to do a task such as put a little wooden man in a boat in response to a sound. They will be asked to wear headphones and hearing detection will be tested at least at 4 pitches( freq) of sound that cover the range that is important for speech and language access. They should also perform otoscope to look in the ears and tympanometry to assess middle ear function as it is very likely that congestion may be the reason for hearing difficulties. This is usually temporary in nature and if lasts for 3 months or Longer is termed 'glue ear'.
If your audiologist is able then a speech discrimination test is useful to see how any hearing difficulty is affecting your child functionally with real life speech in quiet and or in noise.

I hope all gets sorted out. Kind regards

Lonecatwithkitten · 24/02/2013 01:34

My DD has never and will never pass a hearing test due problems when she was a baby. Th most important thing is to make sure the teacher knows so that your DD is sitting in direct line of sight of the teacher and that the teacher ensures that your DD is looking at them when they give out instructions. Also talking to your DD and explaining to her that she needs to look at the teacher the whole time she is talking.
Also at home ensuring you look at her when you talk and she looks at home. Ensure you enuciate words clearly so she can hear and see all the sounds with your mouth.
As others have said she may pass the audiologists test, but if she doesn't all of this will help her significantly.
I have done all of these things for DD and she is now brilliant at lip reading. So despite her hearing loss has no difficulties generally. the only time she struggles is in large room with lots of people talking as she is unable to tune out the back ground noise to hear the person she is talking to.

mrz · 24/02/2013 07:23

the thread is 1year cold so hopefully the OPs child has been to hospital.
Lonecat have hearing aids not been suggested if she needs to lip read?

Lonecatwithkitten · 24/02/2013 10:33

Sorry didn't notice.

No Mrz hearing aids were decided against as she copes so well without them there was a feeling that they could actually make things worse as she could be bombarded with noise. She is in year 4 now and the strategies in place have worked really well. But it is something we check regularly.