Hello readers. If you have been following this story, your will know that our 3 year old daughter had an operation to have grommets fitted and her adenoids removed about 2 weeks ago. I wanted to give you an update about her progress so far and how we are feeling since the operation.
Should She Have Had The Operation
We certainly have no regrets about letting Brook have the procedure done, even though it was quite stressful leading up to the operation and the day itself was hard for all of us.
We were also relieved to get out of the two week isolation period following the operation so she could go back to nursery and play group and we could get back to her normal routine. It was a long time for her not to see her friends and be somewhere that provides her with lots of play and learning opportunities.
Our little lady bounced back from the operation so quickly, and I’m pleased to say she has made a full recovery. We have a follow up consultation in a few weeks just to check things out, but I’m feeling very positive that appointment will go well.
Has Her Hearing Improved?
There were changes we noticed almost immediately following the operation in Brook’s behaviour. Her confidence to speak has grown 10 fold, because she can actually hear what she is saying properly as well as understanding and feeling a part of what is going on around her.
There have been far less clashes between her and her sister as their communication with each other seems to have improved dramatically.
We hadn’t realised that she had never really asked about sounds in the environment before the operation. Say that an aeroplane flew over head or there were sirens nearby, I don’t think she could hear them very well, if at all before. Since the operation if she has been taking more notice of sounds in the distance and asking ‘what’s that noise?’.
Has Having Grommets Improved Her Speech?
In terms of her speech, that is going to take a little bit longer to improve fully. She has heard everything so differently for so long, that those sounds she has picked up through mis-hearing are still very natural to her. There is a part of me that is worried that the developmental impact the Glue Ear has had on her will be permanent and I guess we will only know the answer to that in time.
I contacted the health visitor to discuss my concerns with them, and the lady I spoke to felt that she would catch up as kids are pretty resilient. I think Brook is a bright little girl, and she will get there, we just need to know what support we can offer her to improve her speech from this point on.
Our health visitor will hopefully be in touch over the next week to make an appointment for us to talk through the issues around her speech now that the grommets have been fitted. I think it will be helpful for Brook to have a developmental assessment appropriate to the age she is now and assess if she needs any additional input. It may also be a good time to look at the possibility of speech therapy again.
I’ve also asked for a developmental meeting with her nursery key worker, just to see what their take is on it now her hearing has improved and what support they are able to offer Brook before she goes to school.
The change that we have seen in Brook already does fill me with confidence that she will be able to catch up in terms of her social and speech development fairly quickly. When she speaks now, if she gets some of the sounds wrong, we just repeat the sentence back to her how it should sound, and hopefully she will pick it up eventually.
What To Do If Your Child Has A Hearing or Speech Issue
I thought it would be helpful to summarise how we approached the issue of my daughter’s hearing and some things we have learned along the way to help other parents who are faced with similar issues.
- If you are concerned about your child’s hearing or speech talk to your health visitor.
- Remember that speech and hearing are closely connected and that your child’s speech could be effected if they have glue ear.
- Glue ear is very common in young children.
- Your child may have some hearing, which makes highlighting a hearing issue more difficult. Our daughter struggled to here noises behind her, so if you called her, for example, she wouldn’t respond. She found noisy environments difficult to cope with and didn’t notice sounds in the distance.
- Talk to your Doctor about the issue as well as there may be an underlying issue that is having an impact. Our daughter received treatment for allergic rhinitis.
- Insist on a hearing test if you have concerns, the sooner you get on the waiting list for diagnosis and treatment the better for your child in the long run.
- Ask for a speech therapy assessment if one isn’t offered to you.
- If your child has glue ear and does have grommets fitted, go back to your health visitor to discuss your next steps as further support may be required to improve the child’s speech.
- If ever in any doubt seek medical advice from a trained professional and trust your parental instincts if something isn’t quite right.
If you are interested in reading more about our Glue Ear diagnosis and journey, here’s some links you may find helpful:
Children’s Hearing Test & Diagnosis