I think my son might have a hearing problem...
By violetdreams
@violetdreams (658)
June 15, 2008 12:17pm CST
I am beginning to wonder if my youngest son might have a hearing problem. Don't get me wrong - he isn't deaf, but does seem to battle to hear sometimes -unless it is just selective hearing kicking in early! lol
He is not yet 3 years old and already his pre-school teacher has asked me to get his ears tested. I took him to the dr who looked in his ears and said ' Yes, he does have rather a lot of wax in this ear - give him these ear drops, put cotton wool in and lets see what happens'.
You ever tried to put cotton wool into a nearly 3 year old's ears? Yep, it lasts about 20 seconds (if you're lucky!)
It did seem to improve his hearing a bit and his speech also seemed to get a bit clearer ... but now it seems to be back to 'normal'. I think I am going to have to take him to an ear specialist and get him tested properly.
Has anyone been through this with a child? What should I expect? Thanks all
Violetdreamslingerie
5 responses
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
15 Jun 08
When I was a little girl my mother accused me of not listening. This was many years ago. Well one night my dad was babysitting for me and someone rang the doorbell. I just sat there....they rang again and my dad just watched me and was able to figure out that I couldn't hear it. The next day he made my mom make and appointment for me and I had inner ear infection so bad that I have lost part of my hearing. So it's best you take him to a specialist....they wouldn't have ever known as I wasn't in any pain.
@violetdreams (658)
•
15 Jun 08
Thanks for that Jill. I think I will take your advice and go ask the dr for a referal to a specialist.
Don't know where you are, but in the Uk you have to do it all through a dr, so will definitely get the process started asap.
Thanks again
Violetdreamslingerie
@violetdreams (658)
•
17 Jun 08
Hi
Just thought I'd update you quickly - we went to the doc the other day for a cough, but got him to check R's ears too (after explaining the story) and he found that the right ear (the other one) was quite clogged up with wax too.
Originally I was told to treat the left ear.
Anyway, we are now treating the right ear and lets see what happens. He does seem a much happier boy so maybe the wax was his problem...???
Guess time alone will tell.
violetdreams
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
18 Jun 08
I hope that gets to the root of the problem....I also was told....and I don't know how you do it....but about every six months to use peroxide to clean the ears....I have to lay down and pour just a little bit into the ear and it boils out the wax...and it really does work. That might also help the problem in the future! Thanks for the update and I hope all is well when you get the wax out!
@mummymo (23706)
•
16 Jun 08
I know that many children have hearing 'problems' when they are concentrating on something but this sounds different. My daughter had hearing problems for months after having 2 ear infections in a very short space of time and I was very worried but after a lot of months it came back to normal which I was very thankful about. I would ask that your doctor refer you to a ear , nose and throat specialist and make sure that there is no big problems. If you are trying to get rid of ear wax it is sometimes helpful if you warm some olive oil and pour it into his ear - it doesn't matter too much about the cotton wool this way! Good Luck xxx
@mummymo (23706)
•
17 Jun 08
I am glad that it is working a bit honey! Have you asked your Health Visitor to refer him to a Speech Therapist if he is having trouble with his speech, they can do hearing tests too! Both mine went to speech therapy for a few years from they were really young and it made a huge difference to both of them! Do let me know how things go xxx
@violetdreams (658)
•
17 Jun 08
Thanks Mo
I know what you mean by 'hearing problems' when they are concentrating - all my kids seem to have selective hearing when they want to! They get it from hubby I think - lol.
I do think that, aside from our wax problems, that is part of the problem rather than anything worse - although we will be keeping a close eye on him from now on.
We are now treating the right ear for wax (as well as the left) and we will see what happens and how his speech improves once both ears are clear.
We are using an ear drop which is an oil and seems to be working - apparently the left ear is now clear.
Thanks again
Violetdreams
1 person likes this
@violetdreams (658)
•
19 Jun 08
Good thought about the speech therapist.
I did speak to the health visitor about 6 months ago because they both seemed to be taking a very long time to start talking. She said not to worry overly, it would come. Also because they are twins, it apparently often takes them longer to talk properly because they communicate between themselves so don't have to try as hard as other kids.
They are only 3 in August and are doing much better lately. I think if I can get them to totally give up their dummies/pacifiers then things will come right quicker... hopefully!
Meantime I will definitely keep in mind the therapist.
1 person likes this
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
13 Jul 08
Take your son to a specialist. This is a developmentally important time in his life, if he is no hearing properly, he will not learn to speak properly, he will not develop his vocabulary, he will not develop good social skills.
Your pediatrician maybe right, maybe your son needs to just have his ears cleaned regularly by a doctor but this is too important to let it go by.
@honeyangel (1991)
•
17 Jun 08
when my son was younger(about your weeman age) i had to take him to get his hearing tested,all they did was put a set of ear phones and they told him everytime he hears a noise to put a toy in a box.it lasted about 30 mins.everything was ok but ive been thinking about taking him back again as ive got to shout alot for him to do anything.
hope you get it all sorted soon
@violetdreams (658)
•
17 Jun 08
Many thanks for your concern. I hope your son is OK too. I get to thinking that it is often just the nature of kids to get us to shout at them - a lot in some cases.
I know mine do really get involved in what they are doing and that causes problems too.
Hope all works out well for you and your son (and mine too - lol)
Violetdreams
@4ofmyown (1119)
• United States
14 Jul 08
I think one of my sons may have a hearing problem also. He is 8 and for a while I thought it was selective hearing. It just seems like I have to repeat myself to him much more often than the others. I am going to make appt for him today with the Dr.
@nonew3 (1941)
• United States
7 Aug 08
Do that, and the sooner the better, as hearing affects speech and language development. There is sign language, learning to lipread, hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other interventions, but first they need to find out what is wrong.
