I'm a little freaked out after receiving a call from my daughter's school speech therapist. She called to let me know that my daughter failed the hearing test twice. She was tested in Nov, failed and then failed again when she was re-tested this month. She has the `selective` hearing that is typical of small children. She has no speech problems or delays, reads well, follows spoken directions. She can even sing on pitch, which not all 6 year olds can do. She doesn't seem to have any inner ear issues, no balance problems or recurrent ear infections. She does have heavy ear wax build up, but that is the only thing I can think of that might have caused her to fail the tests. We have an appointment with the pediatrician next week, but I was wondering if anyone else had this happen with their child and what came of it. Has anyone else's child failed the school hearing test and turn out to not have a problem?
*Update*: Just wanted to add that an audiologist will be coming to the school to check her out next month.
Take her to an audiologist and have her tested. I do not have much faith
in the school hearing tests.
.
The same exact thing just happened to us! I took my daughter to her peditrician and it turned out that she had a little fluid in her ears. He prescribed Flonase and we will check back in two months with the hearing test.
Skip the pediatrician and go to an ENT doc. If there is a problem in the ears the ENT is the doc you'll end up with anyway. They may even suggest putting tubes in. My 2 yr. old grandson was deaf, he failed his hearing test too. The base drum behind his head didn't even phase him. The ENT went in to put tubes in and found debris from previous ear infections that had never healed from the antibiotics. The doc cleaned the debris out and when the little guy woke up he could hear very well, for the first time in his life he could hear and it scared the pooh out of him. He has adjusted now and does well in noisier environments.
The ENT is a professional ear doc. The pediatrician is a doc to treat colds and other stuff, not a specialist. It's kind of a waste of money in my opinion to go to the pediatrician who is going to say they don't see anything wrong. The school will eventually require you to do something. If every other student is passing the test but she continues to fail it she has something wrong. The ENT will know very quickly and be able to give you all the options if they find an issue.
I got a letter from the school saying the same thing about my child. She was tested in 4 categories - 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 hz - she failed all but the 4000 - in both ears. I called an audiologist to schedule an appointment. The audiologist said that majority of the kids tested in school fail and not because of hearing issues. They're distracted mostly. At the office they'll be tested in sound proof rooms and subdue environment. I know my daughter was too excited to be out of the classroom and in a "van" with the kids. But as a precautionary measure - I'm having her tested again.
I know this is not the same but...
Every single year my middle son had a vision exam in school, I was notified that he did poorly on it. Even though he wears glasses, goes to the eye dr annually.
First time it happened, I brought him back to the eye dr even though he'd just GONE 3 months prior, there was nothing wrong with his vision or his prescription.
Well, he's 17 now and has never passed a school eye test. I have never gotten to the bottom of why not. I think it may have something to due with nerves.
Still, I would bring it up with her ped.
:)
relax mine failed 2 to have another set of tubes put in his ears to find out his ear drums were retracted and still are. but his speech is catching up and he is doing great. sounds like something minor that can easily be fixed. if it is a problem it may just be a minor problem.
My daughter failed a hearing test at her pediatrician's office twice. We took her to have a full hearing test with an audiologist and had an appointment with an ear, nose and throat doctor immediately following it. She passed the hearing test with flying colors. The ENT's best guess as to why she failed was that she has unusual jaw motion which could sometimes cause pain that might obscure her hearing. She did have an incident a few months later in which she ate a little snack before going on stage and then missed her cue. She said she didn't hear it. So the doctor
may have been right.
I hope things turn out all right with your daughter.
PS - if you have to pay any percentage of your doctor bills, be aware that going straight to the ENT as many parents suggested is expensive. It cost us between 4 and 5 hundred dollars to find out that my daughter's hearing is just fine.
Good Morning,
Relax and make an appointment for her to see an ENT doctor. My daughter has had problems with her ears from day one. She actually goes two days after Christmas for her third set of tubes. Anyway, after her second set were put in, the ENT dr had me follow up with the audiologist. My daughter failed the first time. He said not to worry or panic, she had a ton of fluid in her ears and had scar tissue, etc. from previous infections that never cleared up. When I took her back 3 months later, she passed the test with flying colors! And, this isn't the test where they have to raise their hands. They have some kind of special device they can use so they know when they pass or fail the test.
Good luck!
