Inconsistent Hearing in Children - Anna Sinclair - Teacher

Q1. What learning problems can result from inconsistent hearing in a child?
There is a lot of evidence out there in research that shows that there is a strong correlation between hearing loss and academic achievement. Recurrent hearing loss can lead to a number of problems for children including speech problems, language problems, intellectual problems, social problems, psychological problems and learning problems in the classroom, just to name a few.

Q2. What signs and symptoms of otitis media/conductive hearing loss in children should parents and teachers be looking out for?
There are four main identifiers that teachers and parents should be looking out for when trying to decide whether a child may have a hearing loss.

1. The first is a learning identifier, and that may be something like poor attention span in the classroom.

2. The second is a physical identifier, and that may be something like pus coming out the ear or the child cupping their ears.

3. The third is a speech identifier and that may involve the child speaking in a loud or a soft voice.

4. The fourth and main identifier that people seem to focus on is behavioural, whereby the child may be calling out inappropriately, turning the TV or the computer up a bit louder or having the radio up loud either at home or in the classroom.


Q3. In your experience, how aware are primary school teachers and parents of a child's health/otitis media?
I think everyone has different awareness levels of otitis media depending on whether they have had to deal with a child with hearing loss in the past. Until a parent or a teacher is actually confronted with a situation where the child is actually identified with a hearing loss, they are probably not aware of the significant impact that it can have on a child's learning and social development.

Q4. Can we expect teachers to be on the look out for otitis media?
I think that teachers today are very aware of health issues relating to students in their classroom. However I don't think specifically that looking out for otitis media would be their role. But I do think that a teacher could identify those students with a spelling or reading problem and examine what may be causing the problem.

Q5. How beneficial would a twice-daily amoxycillin that requires no refrigeration be for those students suffering from acute otitis media?
I would think that a twice a day medication would be more suitable than a three times a day dosage of medication for a child with acute otitis media, because the parent would be administering the medication and supervising the medicating of their child prior to and after school. Therefore, there would be no need for school involvement in the storage or the administering of the medication to the student.