late talkers, failed hearing test and tubes

[shamrockshake]

not sure what to title this so I covered all my bases

DD4 is 16.5 months and doesn't have any words, well uh oh, I guess that counts, so she has ONE word. She makes noises, she can and does repeat some things, she's said "night night" after I said it a bunch of times and DD2's name, again repeating one of us. But other than uh oh she says nothing on her own. I wasn't terribly concerned at her 15 month check up because she's the youngest of 4, she doesn't NEED to talk, she squeals and 3 older sisters hand her whatever she wants. I know she can hear- she responds to us, she nods and shakes her head, she understands things- if I ask her to get me something she'll go get it.

She had a reoccurring, month + long battle with ear infections so we were referred to an ENT who finally got it under control. After it cleared they tested her hearing and she failed in one ear so she's getting tubes, the wait is longer than I would like, took a month to get an appointment, but she's getting them on 3/30. I am just curious if anyone has dealt with something similar. Did your DC hearing improve after tubes? If the issues are unrelated and I just have a late talker when do you think I need to be more concerned and do something about it? I really don't even know what my question is, so if you dealt with any of the above, tell me your story and what you did!

[ilikedonuts]

I have no experience with tubes and failed hearing tests, but my oldest said nothing until 17 months. At her 15 month appointment, my pedi said if she didn't have any words by 18 months then we'd get her in with a ST and see what they say.

I would probably give it a bit longer for your daughter just because I would want to give her time to adjust to hearing and everything after the tubes are put in and everything drains.

[Deleted]

Tubes fixed DS's hearing overnight. He hadn't even had an infection in months, but the fluid wasn't draining between infections. Imagine trying to learn to talk when everyone sounds like they're underwater! He had a handful of words at 2, but was not combining them into phrases, which set off our journey. Hearing evaluation, then doctor appointment, then wait for surgery. The gap between first check up and surgery was about 3 months. His speech improved fairly rapidly after that, and while he still has minor issues, he's pretty much caught up now (at almost 4).

As for when to be concerned, "two word phrases by two" was the benchmark my doctor was using. DD is a bit behind on number of words, but she's got a bunch more lately so I'm not worried.

[undecidedowl]

DS1 got tubes around 15 months after a month long battle with an ear infection. He started "talking" more very soon after and had a verbal leap after a couple months. He has been ahead verbally since about 6 months after the surgery.

[JayhawkGirl]

DS had tubes at eight months. They fell out shortly before his 4 year appt, at which he had an EI (had none after tubes). We soon started suspecting hearing issues but foolishly ignored it, put it off, thought we were overreacting. And we had a new baby. We had several appts where his pediatrician said no infection but he had fluid.

I finally went back to the ENT and had the audiologist test his hearing. He had a 40 dB hearing loss in each ear which she said equated to about a fifty percent hearing loss. His speech was regressing at this point (August, nine months after that we'll check when he had the first EI). We had tubes in and adenoids out 10/1. When we walked out of the hospital he asked what all the noise was - it was the highway. My poor son couldn't even hear the background highway noise.

Surgery recovery was easy, but given how long his hearing had been suffering we kept him home and quiet thurs to mon. He got tired easily and overstimulated easily but after a week that was fine. I just wish we listened to our instincts and took him in sooner.

[shamrockshake]

Mar 16, 2015 9:06:23 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

Tubes fixed DS's hearing overnight. He hadn't even had an infection in months, but the fluid wasn't draining between infections. Imagine trying to learn to talk when everyone sounds like they're underwater! He had a handful of words at 2, but was not combining them into phrases, which set off our journey. Hearing evaluation, then doctor appointment, then wait for surgery. The gap between first check up and surgery was about 3 months. His speech improved fairly rapidly after that, and while he still has minor issues, he's pretty much caught up now (at almost 4).

As for when to be concerned, "two word phrases by two" was the benchmark my doctor was using. DD is a bit behind on number of words, but she's got a bunch more lately so I'm not worried.

this is really helpful to hear. I was actually just thinking this weekend, wth does she really need tubes for if she hasn't had another infection, and what if nothing is wrong that tubes will fix, but the fluid being trapped in there makes sense. I am hoping that's the issue and the tubes help her and her speech improves as well as your DSs

thanks for the stories, they are helping ease my mind

[Ashley&Scott]

Tubes were a game changer for us, he started making new sounds that afternoon. It was clear that his hearing was very muffled before tubes. The procedure is really fast, good luck!

ETA: tubes were done at 16mo.

[carolinagirl831]

I am an Audiologist in an ENT office and see kids with temporary hearing loss due to fluid and ear infections every day.
The tubes will make a world of a difference. If she has had consistent fluid for months, it is like walking around with a cotton ball stuck in your ear, everything is muffled. Most kids DO fail the hearing test before the tubes because that is a reason they are getting them. She definitely should pass once the tubes are in place. They should do the test again at your followup visit. I bet you see immediate differences in her!
good luck!

[momof2boys]

My youngest son had frequent ear infections, fluid in the ears and a speech delay. When he had the tubes put in the doctor told us he had so much fluid he would be surprised if he could hear much of anything. The afternoon of the surgery I was noticing he was suddenly more engaged. He used to sit and play with his toys and not look up when I walked by or talked to him, suddenly he was looking up. A phone rang and he looked up, a siren went off and he looked like he never heard it before. It was amazing! Over the next month or two he had a word explosion, he could hear therefore started talking! About 2 years later his tubes fell out and he failed another hearing test, so we put them back in and had his adenoids out. His is now 8 and still in speech therapy however.

[alzi]

Mar 16, 2015 11:30:39 GMT -5 carolinagirl831 said:

I am an Audiologist in an ENT office and see kids with temporary hearing loss due to fluid and ear infections every day.
The tubes will make a world of a difference. If she has had consistent fluid for months, it is like walking around with a cotton ball stuck in your ear, everything is muffled. Most kids DO fail the hearing test before the tubes because that is a reason they are getting them. She definitely should pass once the tubes are in place. They should do the test again at your followup visit. I bet you see immediate differences in her!
good luck!

Ditto. (Lol)

[shamrockshake]

thanks for the feedback everyone, I really appreciate it! as if on cue, H had her at the pedi today after she had a fever Friday, went down Saturday, was gone yesterday and then back today (follow that lol) and she has another ear infection

[mrsc23]

My DS failed hearing tests in both ears and had tubes put in. His hearing was immediately improved. When we got home from the surgery, I stood behind him, about 4 feet away and whispered his name. He turned his head and looked at me...he NEVER would have done that prior. We actually go for his follow up and hearing retest this week, but I know it has vastly improved. He had already been in speech therapy (he's 4), and I'm hoping we see some more improvements in that area.

Good luck!

[whereintheworld]

I think CloudBee is in a similar boat?

[electricmayhem]

I'll be the outlier here--DD had persistent, recurrent EI's that only responded to IM antibiotic shots, so we had tubes placed at 13 months. Her hearing was tested right before the surgery and it was right on the border, consistent with fluid buildup, per the audiologist.

Her ear infections immediately cleared up following the procedure (she has not had one since), but her hearing was rechecked at 15 months and was far worse--showed moderate hearing loss on both sides. When the ENT checked, both tubes were totally clogged. We treated it per the doctor's instructions for over two weeks, and then I had an audiologist I work with check again--one side still blocked. Continued treating, checked again at her 15 month well visit 2 weeks after that--still blocked. We are going back to ENT this Thursday. I was also annoyed b/c after failing the follow up test, the ENT was all, "Oh, we won't recheck her hearing for another year". Say whut? I called my pedi and asked him to intervene, b/c there is no way I'm letting my baby not hear for 12 months, especially during this time of prime language development. I'll also throw in that we're not going to some rinky-dink practice, which makes this all the more frustrating.

In any case, DD has words--I'd say maybe 10--but now we're both paranoid that her right side is not clear, we have no way of knowing if / when it's better unless I bring her in or make arrangements for my coworker to see her, and we're trying to be aggressive about getting this taken care of, to no avail just yet. Our one bright spot is that she's not been sick at all since then.