Moderate Hearing Loss- Glue Ear- Behaviour

My son turned 4 this month and he has been struggling with his hearing. We were referred to an audiologist who did the tests and confirmed that he had moderate hearing loss, but the underlying structure looked good and it appeared that he had fluid in his ear. We have been asked to come back in 3 months and if it’s not improved, they will refer to ENT (which has a 12 month waiting list). He did really well over Christmas but his behaviour since his hearing troubles has started to go down hill and it was particularly bad with the excitement of the festivities. I don’t want to use his hearing as an excuse but I don’t want to be unfair - any tips on how to be balanced are welcome! I’ve noticed that his hearing today seems particularly bad, could this be because he’s a bit burnt out from the last few days (they’ve been full on and noisy). Would love to connect with any mums who have/are dealing with (hopefully) temporary hearing loss. Thank you

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Hiya. This is similar to my son, who has moderate hearing loss. But I don’t really notice any problems with his hearing as such but i think he struggles when there is lots going on and will often hold over both his ears! We have had two checks on his ears now and it has got worse over the two appointments but they haven’t referred him to ENT yet as they are hoping they were worse because he was congested so we are back in February! X

We’ve been going through this for the last year with my eldest. She was having progressively worse hearing which had also been picked up by her nursery team, particularly in group settings of places with lots of background noise. We went to audiology who said she had mild hearing loss and had bilateral glue ear and to come back in 6 months. If there was no improvement we’d be referred for grommets. We went back last month and her hearing had improved and the glue ear cleared! Behaviour wise we had problems with frustration because she couldn’t hear, or perceived bad behaviour because she hadn’t heard the instructions. She was being isolated by the kids at nursery as she couldn’t hear enough to join in and keep up with the games. She started school in September and I let them know before hand so they knew in class settings she might struggle. Have you been given any exercises to do by audiology? We were asked to buy an Otovent to try and push through the fluid causing glue ear.

Hello, my son was diagnosed with Glue ear and moderate hearing loss at 9months. You should have been referred to Audiology? If not ask for a referral. Did they offer hearing aids? We had hearing aids for 1.5 years and they made the world of difference. We ended up paying privately for ENT and grommets as the wait list in my area was 2.5 years and he had other ENT issues which were causing hospital stays. Grommets have been life changing for him. They have worked - his hearing is now considered ‘good’. No hearing aids - and we have no issues with infection or anything.

Also you should have been referred to a hearing loss support team. Someone from this team should come out to his nursery/school and assess him in that environment and give advice to his teaches nursery staff on how to help him. Thing like he should always be at the front of the class. Make eye contact whilst talking to him etc.

@Naomi thank you, this is helpful to know. All I was given was a hand out to give to nursery.

@Ruth yes, we’ve tried the Otovent but my son doesn’t seem to be able to grasp it x

@Effy is that the balloon thing?

@Emma yes, that’s the one.

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