Ear tubes/speech delay

[MSWR0319]

DS is getting tubes and we are in the process of getting EI started for his speech delay, which the pedi thinks is from all of his ear problems. If your child had a speech delay and then got tubes, how fast did he catch up?

[BabbyO]

FWIW, when I was a kid I had a similar situation. My speech actually regressed - which is how my parents figured out I was having hearing problems and that led to getting Tubes when I was 4 or 5. Anyway, I caught up VERY quickly. I had no appreciable delay by kindergarten (late birthday so I was almost 6 in K) and was in the top reading group by second grade.

I would think that once he can hear better, there will be an explosion of speech growth.

[Snow mom]

At this point (a few years out) I want to say instantly and DD didn't go to EI. Obviously my memory is a bit faulty in not remembering the exact details but it really was amazing how quickly DD started picking up words once she could hear properly. It was very noticeable and made me feel guilty for not getting tubes sooner but she had no issue catching up and passing her peers. It was like her ability to talk was already there but her ability to hear what she should be saying and ability to hear herself saying it was missing.

[Philly Mom]

With DD1, it was within a month or two. 18 months, 3 words and she got tubes. 20 months well over 100 words and some two word sentences and at 24 months quite advanced sentence structure.


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[smilequeen]

DS2 did have hearing loss associated with EIs and fluid. Tubes were in at 11 months. He had articulation and expressive language delays that he is still seeing an SLP for at 6. His articulation caught up at 5. How much was due to the ear issues I have no idea. His sleep and mood were amazingly improved with the tubes though.

[MaiseyDog]

DD2 got tubes at about 18 months due to chronic fluid in the ears. She had been evaled by a speech pathologist at 12 months because she wasn't making consonant sounds. As part of her eval, they did a hearing test which is where we found out about the fluid. She had never had an ear infection so we had no idea. At the time she went in for tubes she had about 4 words. Within 2 weeks after the procedure she had about 20. At two she was right on track and we were released from the speech pathologist.

[ladysoapmaker]

DS#2 had a set of tubes at about 18months. When he talked it sounded like he was talking under water. After the tubes, his voice changed and his vocabulary improved. He had a hearing test right around kindergarten and fluid on the ear another set of tubes and OMG there was no stopping him from talking.

Jen

[AnnieW625]

DD1 at 2 yrs. old said 7 words (mama, dada, duck, dog, by, hi, and car), and our insurance/healthcare provider said at 2 that 20 was still acceptable (of course we knew kids like Ms. Pacman's DS who were saying close to 100 words at 2 yrs. old, speaking sentances, could tell you their parents' name, their street name, and what kind of car they drove as well, but those kids are not the norm and there was a wide range of the low side of normal and the 100 word kids). Prior to her turning 2 I thought she was a little slow language wise, but I chose not to let it bother me and figured that at her 2 yr. appt. the ped. would say something and she did. The ped. referred us to the on staff SLP who then referred us to the local regional center where we got the speech evaluation. The ped. also referred us to the ENT. Tubes didn't scare me at all because I'd had a positive experience with them, and got mine when I was almost 6 though, but I went from hating kindergarten to ending the school year on a positive note because I could finally fully hear what the teacher was saying.

DD1 had constant ear infections from about 20 months until she turned 2 (and then continued to get them until she was about 5 sometimes twice a year, but thankfully they seem to have stopped). The infections pre tubes just didn't clear (one would get better then it would go to the other ear, or it would be a double and it wouldn't clear, and we ended up on the highest strength of ABX possible for a <than 2 yr. old) so she had tubes put in at 25 months old (a week shy of 26 months).

DD1 had a speech eval about 2 weeks after she had gotten her tubes in (26 months) and on a good day she was speaking at 16 months, but the therapist said esp. when dealing with people she didn't know (like the therapist) it was closer to 12 months (DD1 has always been on the shy side). DD1 was put on a waiting list for a speech therapy group program through the local childrens' hospital and she was on the waiting list for four months.

Within 4 months (so by the time she was 2/1/2) she was slowly building her vocabulary and we debated about not sending her to therapy at all, but we are were very glad we did. The turning point was when we were visiting Boston and I had her count the duck statues in Boston Common--and I was smart and video taped it so with a little pushing she was able to count along with me), and she started her group speech therapy a few weeks later (so 5 months post tube surgery).

The group therapy was amazing and esp. for her it got her used to other kids (even though she was at daycare with a few babies or kids who were a good year older than she was) and by 3 she had caught up far enough that she didn't need the school district's SLP programs. The program she was in was specifically for 2 yr. olds so she graduated from the program on her 3rd birthday so she had 5 months of therapy two days a week.

[pb&j]

DD didn't have a delay, but had a hearing deficit pre-tubes. Her pronunciation sounded like she was underwater. Her hearing improved immediately (we had a hearing check two weeks post op), and pronunciation followed extremely quickly. She was almost 3 the first time. No lasting effects, and she had likely been almost completely impaired in one ear for 6-12 months.

[PZMommy]

My son got tubes around 18 months and only had a few words. By 24 months he was talking in sentences. He had 10 new words within days of his surgery. EI wouldn't do anything for us until after he got the tubes in. After the tubes he didn't need their services.

[mousemom]

DS1 had a speech delay when he was a baby, caught up with EI and then was identified as having a phonological disorder (substituting/omitting sounds in words) around 3. He did not have ear infections, but around 3.5 was diagnosed with persistent fluid in his ears and got tubes. (We had checked his ears/hearing earlier and it was ok then.) In our case, it was several months before we really saw much of a difference because DS had to unlearn/relearn so many sounds that he had gotten used to saying a certain way. With continued therapy, he is now caught up at age 5 and will most likely head to kindergarten without any special services next year.

[hillview]

DS2 had hearing delays, did EI. Once we figured out he needed tubes they made a significant difference. He caught up in <1 year.

I mis-typed. DS2 had SPEECH delays :)

[Simon]

Ds2 and Ds3 both had tubes but only Ds2 had speech delay/EI. He caught up after about 18 months but I did not think the tubes made much difference for him. I mean, he could clearly hear better but that did not translate into better speech/rapid development for us.

[mom2binsd]

Some kids make instant gains and won't qualify for EI, many pediatrician's will say they need speech but they don't qualify. It really depends. I've seen lots of amazing speech changes post tube insertion, and even more after a child had adenoids removed, his speech was instantly clearer. So you'll have to wait and see how the hearing improves and if there is an actual speech delay.

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[MSWR0319]

Thanks for all the experiences! I went ahead and scheduled an eval with the EI services per our pediatrician. I did tell the coordinator that we had an appt with an ENT to get tubes and she didn't seemed phased by it. I had thought also that maybe we should wait till after the tubes were put in but the dr. said no and she didn't say anything. I guess we will see how it goes and go from there. He's not saying anything clearly at all but is babbling a ton. I just hope we don't have permanent damage from all of the fluid/infections.

[AnnieW625]

DD1 had her initial eval with the SLP about a month before she got her tubes put in. Tubes and SLP do seem to go hand in hand. It just took our regional center a while to get us scheduled with their SLP.

[Jen841]

At age 5 my son got tubes and instantly started talking more clearly. He pronounced Spanish words on Dora perfect the Amy of his surgery.