Tubes -- Hearing & Speech

I don't know if this will help, but when my sister was 2 (she's now married with 2 kids!) she had tubes put in her ears and her speech improved by leaps and bounds. Before that no one outside the family could understand anything she said. He doctor said it's because the fluid in her ears made it sound like everyone was talking underwater so thats how she was learning to talk.

Hi N.,

I have a son who got tubes (he also had his tonsils and adenoids removed)when he was 26 months old. It was amazing how his speech improved after the surgery. It was like night and day difference. He talked much clearer and we could understand him and he was less frustrated when communicating.

When he got ear infections his eardrum would burst and after that happened 3 times we saw the ENT and scheduled the surgery. He had very large tonsils and the ENT said adenoids were probably large because the tonsils were so he removed those to prevent any more problems.

He hasn't been sick hardly at all since. He is almost 4 now.

Any more questions please feel free to email me.

I am a sahm of four children- 3 boys, 7, 5, 3, and a precious little girl who is 19 months.

Have you tried taking your child to a chiropractor for the ear infections? I know it may sound strange, but we were in a similar predicament about 4 years ago with our daughter. I did some internet research, and read many places about taking young children to the chiro. I've never been to a chiropractor myself, and honestly I was skeptical, but I decided to give it a try. I called around Madison looking for someone who a chiropractor who consistently did adjustments on children. I didn't want someone who did it once in awhile, but EVERY week. I found an osteo dr., who was a chiropractor. It meant whenever our daughter started getting an ear infection, we'd be making around 3-4 trips in two weeks, but she never had another ear infection where she needed antibiotics.

Good luck.
N.

My daughter has tubes, which she received when she was about 10 months old. She is now 21 months old and she is a chatterbox.

She has about 20-30 actual words, she has her own baby babble that she uses quite frequently and special words that consistently mean certain things. I've been told by my dr that this is normal so I wouldn't worry.

Tubes are great - we had 3 months of solid ear infections after ear infections. It was awful, but since the tubes, we have had no ear infections! Woo!

As far as tubes go, our dr said we should use them religiously but as Hazel's ears were so small, even the infant-sized plugs cut in half were too big and getting fitted earplugs was a joke for the price and how often we would have to get new ones.

We just are really really careful about things like bathtime and swimming. We try to make sure she doesn't immerse her ears in water and use a pitcher to rinse her hair with our hands cupped over her ears. But if she gets water in them, we just watch the ears for drainage for a couple of days.

Good luck!

My son, now 6 years old had tubes at an early age, around 9-10 months. He was very smart as far as understanding what people were saying, but as far as him talking, he was behind. He ended up taking a special speech class when we was almost 3. He really improved in that class and has had no speech related problems since. The dr's told us that the reason he was speaking in what we considered his own language was because that was the way he heard the words. Because of the constant infection he was not hearing them correclty. For example, is he was thirsty, he would say me ha, me ha. Even though he had tubes at an early age and did not have any other problems with ear infections after that, it still affected his speech. As you said, kids to things at different times and I would keep an eye on his speech and see how things progress. If you feel he needs help with it, don't be afraid to voice your concerns. That is what we did. Good Luck to you.

Hello N. -
I am a mother of 3 children. My 6 year old son went through the same thing as your son. He had constant ear infections when he was an infant and finally at about 14 months he had tubes put in his ears. That was the best thing I have ever done. He also had speech problems and could only hear what sounded like water in your ears. It is only natural that your son would have speech problems. My son talked like he was from New York when he finally did talk. He had tubes for about 3 years and when he was 3 years old I had him in speech therapy. He was also in preschool. My mother and friends kept telling me that he couldn't talk right but I as his mother and in denial. I am so grateful for the tubes and the speech class I had him in.
Dont' hesitate to do the tubes. If your primary doctor recommends that course, then do it. My son is in school now and is speeking great.
Good luck and if you have any further questions, feel free to contact me personally.

Hi there! I have 4 little ones- three had/have tubes (well, the youngest is getting tubes next week) and I have had the experience with my oldest two of a miraculous healing! My second child had speech delays because of the fluid in her ears. The doc said she simply couldn't hear clearly. Within a few weeks of her getting the tubes placed, she experienced a language explosion! She was 13 months when she had the tubes put in and by the time she turned 15 months her language was more than I thought possible! Of course, every child moves at their own pace but I would think that you might see similar results.

Hope that helps you a bit!

D.

Hi N.,

I am a speech pathologist and I work in our local elementary school. The good majority of my students have had tubes placed and my own son had them placed when he was 3. My husband is also a speech pathologist so we worked with him and he never had speech issues. With some kids, the tubes miraculously change their speech and for others, the habits that they have learned need some intervention. When a child is under 3, they need to be seen in their natural environment so the local district can send a therapist to your home. After 3 they can attend a language based preschool program if they qualify.

When the ear drum isn't moving properly, it is hard to hear the higher frequency sounds, like s and sh for example. The tubes would help expose him to all the sounds. My son understood everything I asked at your sons age, but didn't really explode in the talking until he was about 18 months. Now at five he says, "Don't worry mom. I can handle it. I'm a professional." or "Mom, I have a confession to make." :)

Long story to say, I would start with the hearing. If that doesn't improve his speech, call your local district and set up a speech and language evaluation. It is free and they can give you home programming ideas if he doesn't qualify.

Hope your appointment goes well.
C.

Hey N.!

Sounds to me like your son needs to get an evalution done on his speech and hearing. The public school where we live has it free for kids. There is no charge and if you need help with his talking they come to your house or daycare. A teacher comes to my house every week to help my 30 month old daughter with a similar situation. It is better to start it right away and ask your doctors office to help get you started. When I took my daughter in for her 2 year oppointment, her doctor did not say anything about her talking. So I gave it a little more time and still nothing different. If I was you I would check into it right away. The sooner you start the easier it will be on all of you guys. It has to be most h*** o* your son that is trying to tell you things and is having a hard time. What ever you decide to do I hope everything works out. Hope he gets talking soon! I know what you are going through. If you want to private message me about it or want to talk more let me know. Take care,

C.

Trust your feelings about your son's speech. I had concerns abuot my middle son's speech and the pediatrician said that it was developmental so we did speech therapy for months. I had Ryan evaluated through the preschool program and they found speech delay and pressure in his ears. Speech therapy helped, but the sounds would come and go. I finally pushed the ENT to check his hearing again and while his hearing with the beeps was fine, his ear drum didn't move enough - he was not hearing the word sounds. After tubes, the improvement in his speech was tremendous! Pressure in the ears is like hearing sounds under water. You can make out alot of it, but miss the subleties. When my youngest son was having the same pressure problems, we went to tubes and he's a little talking fool. I don't think all kids need tubes but when there's concern about speech, I think it's a good decision.

i have a child that will turn 9 this month he is on his 4th set of tube he got them last year. his first set he was about 16 months, but he was alergic to them so the next set went in and on the way home he started asking us what's that we were amazed. It's not abad thing to get tubes.

Hi there...I'm glad you brought this up because my son went through a similar situation. My son will be three in March and had tubes put in this past September. We have noticed he was using vowels primarily in his speech but the doctor did not seem concerned until we began discussing tubes due to the many ear infections he had between 18-24 months. Once he got the tubes, we expected to see a dramatic difference, but the ENT evaluated him at his post-op appt and determined that my son needed speech therapy. I have heard from other moms though, that once the tubes are in there is a significant change in speech with some children. We are currently enrolled with Early On services - his speech therapist comes to our home twice a week and he is responding well. My only regret is that I wish we had started addressing the speech issues at an earlier age. I think that it's great this has come up at 15 months for your son because our speech therapist has said the earlier these issues are addressed, the better. I would keep an eye on it and keep talking with your doctor/ENT. Like you said, every child is different and your son might just start talking like crazy once he's past the 18 month mark - I think that's what we kept waiting to happen with our son. Best wishes to you!

My daughter didn't get tubes in her ears until Kindergarten, we started noticing she wasn't hearing well and she had a history of ear infections. Long story short, she ended up having her tonsils and adenoids removed (her adenoids were swollen and pinching off the tubes that let fluid drain from your ears), and we put in tubes to make certain she was getting adequate drainage. I cannot begin to tell you the change that made! She just took off- school became easier, her speech improved, no more ear infections. For us, it was a great benefit. Good luck!

my oldest and youngest had to have tube for ear infection the problem went away the words and sounds to naver stop tube are a blessing if you get the right doctor so ask about custom ear plug for swin and tub well good luck restasure you will be a happer family unit after it all done and over with

My son was plagued with ear infections when he was small. I would bet to say he was off antibiotics only a few weeks and would get another infection. His speech, to me, seemed delayed. I would ask the doctors about tubes (we were air force, so had several doctors) but they always told me if it can be cleared up with antibiotics, they'd rather he not go through surgery. I even had friends with children the same age comment on his speech being 'different'. He would talk fast and his words would run together. I often had to tell him to slow down so I could understand him.

Eventually the ear infections slowed to a crawl and he didn't have them so frequently, but still would 'mumble' and run words together. It wasn't until he was 12 (and we were out of the air force) that his doctor said he should have tubes. SO he got them. He has had very few infections since.

He is now 21 and his speech is normal. Has been for a while.

I recommend really looking into the tubes. Especially if he is having ear infections.

Our oldest daughter (now 3 yrs) had her tubes put in when she was 8 months old because she had constant fluid in her ears that was constantly getting infected. Literally, the day she had her tubes put in, she started babbling much more than she had. Like the ear nose and throat physician said, "before it sounded like she was hearing under water will all of the fluid and now with the fluid cleared, she can hear better." With that said, some kids do speak at different ages and levels. My 2nd daughter doesn't babble nearly as much as my oldest did at that age - but we are also going to see the ear nose and throat physician for her as well since we have had numerous ear infections with her. So I am not sure if it is a fluid issue with her as well. If your physician recommends tubes, I would not hesitate at all - to help with your child's hearing as well as keep your child off antibiotics (that was the feeling of my husband and I when we were deciding about the tube issue). Best of luck.

I would definately look into Chirpractic for the fluid in the ears before surgery. That's what we did for my son and we didn't need surgery.
Also, get his speech evaluated through your local health department if you need too...they have free hearing test equipment.
C.

I wouldn't worry about the talking yet, he is understanding what you say that is just as important. Just keep working with him.
The ENT will test his hearing and let you know if the fluid was enough to slow his speech.
My dd had tubes at 15 months, she has been great since.
Our doc says that ear plugs aren't neccessary for swimming or bath, unless they get an infection. I think he said only 10% of kids need to use ear plugs. So don't worry about that to much.

My 4 yr old had chronic ear problems. He wouldn't get normal symptoms, they would just burst. We finally got him tubes and didn't have any problems after that. Recently, I realied that he was still hard to understand for everyone outside the family, so we contacted the school district and had him tested. They eplained to me that it was like hearing everyone and being under water. He has all his words, but he has substituted most sounds. He is now in Speech Therapy (free from the school) and is progressing fabulously. I would say be real clear when talking to him and correct kindly as he forms words, then have him tested when he's 3, just to be safe. Alpine District is FABULOUS.
Good luck!!!

Our daughter was 18 mths when she got her fist tubes & it was like night & day!! After teh tubes she really started talkin & has not stopped since!! Go for the tubes!! GOOD LUCK!

My son is 14 months, and was diagnosed with moderate hearing loss at birth. Right around his first birthday, he had three ear infections in less than two months. Seeing as he already has trouble hearing on his own, my ENT doctor highly suggested having the tubes put in. Ever since we did I have noticed such a difference in his speech. He clearly responds now when being called, or at least acknowledges that someone is trying to get his attention. His language also has become more precise. It is not so mumbled and loud. He has began using a normal tone again, and has actually begun distinguishing different sounds, such as now he prenounce, 'ma' and 'ba' and I can tell the difference. Before, that never happened. So, yes I believe the tubes help tremendously, so I would make sure you bring that up with your md.

My ENT, makes the child get his hearing tested, before he even see's them. If yours doesn't, I would ask about it. It's amazing what they do, for kids under 2! This should help you know if your child's hearing is part of the problem. Good luck with everything! Tubes really helped out my kids & I hope it does the trick with yours, too.

Tubes are amazing for both the child and the mom and dad. Our daughter had chronic ear infections for 2.5 years before we tubed her and the difference in her before and after is amazing.

She has had no speech or hearing issues related to her tubes. She was a much happier, better sleeping, and an all around more pleasant child after her tubes.

I am prego with #2 and will not wait with this one if we have trouble with ears.

S.

3 of our children had ear tubes. (Our son went through 3 sets!) Even with the tubes many friends and relatives and a hard time understanding him (as did we) even when he was as old as 4. He was quite understand-able by kindergarten.

I have known an 18 month old that could carry on extensive conversations and 2 year olds with it seems only about a dozen words. I think speech development is one of the things that varies the most. One thing that did help with our kids was to learn sign language and teach them that. Even a 9 month old can communicate with sign. It is kind of fun and exciting to be able to get that chance to be able to see that they really are thinking and understanding at that age and have just not learned the language skill to communicate yet! One of our favorite family stories is of our young daughter saying "apple" while signing "please".

The biggest change we were actually able to attribute to ear tubes is when our 13-month-old son started walking (without holding on to something) 1 week after he got his first set of tubes.