Parents of chilren with tubes in their ears.

Jenny_Taylia

Usually your referal papers will indicate that this is a recurring problem and when you meet with the specialist he will discuss the history of ear infections/health of your child.

I also see that you are in TO (I'm in Ottawa) I have been told the same thing when it comes to Strep. My dr told me one has to have strep 7 or 8 times a year to be considered.
It sucks my daughter suffers from these a lot (we did strep back to back 5 times one spring....)
The clinic nurse also informed me I would have better chances of having them remove the tonsils, if we asked for a throat swab every time. This way it builds up a "confirmed case" as to why we should have them removed.
frustrating!

See the thing is...I have not taken him to the doctor EVERY single time. Quite a few nights he would be crying in so much pain...but in the morning nothing was bohering him at all. His throat would hurt to the point he couldnt swallow because it hurt so bad...but later that night it would be fine. Will this effect anything? Like the fact that the doctor doesnt have mumerous reports of this?

ReneeJ814

I'm not a parent, but I'm a graduate student in speech-language pathology and will soon graduate, so I think I can provide some insight here. You made the right move by making an appointment with the ENT. He/she will be the person who can identify whether or not your son will need tubes in his ears. I'm sure they will probably check his hearing there, but it probably wouldn't hurt to see an audiologist for a full evaluation if you're concerned about your son's hearing. As lauramac said earlier, chronic ear infections can do permanent damage to your son's hearing if they go untreated.

Here's my two cents about his speech. Based on your description of your son's speech, it sounds to me like he has trouble pronouncing his R's. This is not uncommon because R is the hardest sound to learn and also the hardest sound to teach. Some children can pick it up very easily and have the R sound when they are as young as 4 years old; however, in some chidren the R sound doesn't fully develop until age 7-8, which is your son's age range. Based on your description, this is the sound that gives him trouble, which shouldn't greatly affect the way others understand him. Do strangers have a hard time understanding him? By the way, his speech may not have anything to do with his hearing.

For now, I believe you are making the right first step. See the ENT and get the ear infections resolved first. If there are hearing problems, get those resolved as well. After this, if you are still concerned about his speech, you should see a speech-language pathologist to evaluate his speech. If he goes to public school, he can be evaluated and possibly treated there. If not, there are probably university speech and hearing clinics or private practices. Talk to your son's pediatrician or ENT about this and I'm sure he/she can refer you to somebody. I hope this helps!

Only sometimes do other people not understand him but not very often. He has been referred to speech therapy since he started kindergarten and I havent heard anything back about it yet! He is now in the middle of grd 2.

If he is mostly intelligible, he probably won't qualify for speech services in the schools. Talk to his pediatrician and have him/her refer you to a private practice. As many children there are that have speech problems, I'm sure he/she has a list of reputable speech pathologists.

christine24t

Growing up, I always got ear infections and had five sets of tubes before I was six. I have only gotten a couple of ear infections since then. I'm sure it helped that I grew up and my ears grew (they're common with kids because of the small size of the inner ear, everything is soooo close together).

Is your son receiving help for his language deficits? I had to go to speech therapy for mine (and a special school as well).

magj0y

Thanks everyone for the replies!

Now....

Does he have to be in the middle of an ear infection or throat infection for them to want to do something? Or can he go in pain free with no infections for them to say he needs tubes or his tonsils out?

My doctor just asked for my history, he looked at my throat and scheduled the surgery.

xsabrinalynn

Does anyone here have a child who had tubes put in their ears?

My son, Michael....is 7 yrs old...almost 8. Such an amazing little man. He has had bad ear infections every year, about 4 or 5 times a year and even when its not an ear infection he still complains his ear hurts when you touch it. Some nights he wakes up almost screaming in pain. He has a very large vocabulary but doesnt pronounce a lot of words/letters correctly. For instance...He doesnt say thats her toy...he says thats ho toy. Or Wemembo instead of remember.

He also gets throat infections as well, This boy has had strep throat many times, tonsilities and even scarlet fever. Im thinking his tonsils need to be removed but Ive been told they dont do that anymore unless its life threatening.


So Im wondering if you think they are going to say he needs tubes in his ears? Will their be a huge difference after they are in? I have an appt made with the ear throat and nose doctor but that isnt until the end of December so Im just trying to get some info about it because I worry about anything and everything! Thanks!

I had the same thing growing up - ear infections, ear pain, tonsillitis months at a time. Once I got my tonsils out, it all stopped.

castlerobber

Both my kids started ear infections early--6 months for the older one, 4 months for the younger. Each one got tubes at around a year old. Didn't completely stop the infections, did stop the pain that went along with them. They finally outgrew the infections around age 2 1/2 or 3. Never had to have tonsils or adenoids out.

They both had trouble pronouncing the same few letters, so each one went through a couple of years of twice-weekly speech therapy sessions when they were in kindergarten and lower elementary school. My daughter's speech is clear unless she's tired. My son probably could use another six months of therapy; his sounds are correct, but he tends not to enunciate well.