Hearing test in school update 12-5

One of my girls came home upset on Tuesday. They took the kids in small groups to the nurse for a hearing, vision and height and weight. She said she didn't hear any sounds during the test "even though it was loud". We tried to ask her how she knew it was loud if she didn't hear anything.
I was in school yesterday for a PTA meeting so I stopped in to talk to the nurse. The Nurse said she she kind of feels that my DD didn't realize what she should be listening for. They other kids were waiting on the cot in the room with the hearing test, and they would could hear the sound outside of the headphones. She is going to retest her in 10 days most likely by herself and make sure that she knows what she should be listening for.
The nurse said that my DD comes in often enough that she knows she hears but it was the strangest thing. Yes that was her exact words.

I was wondering if anyone has dealt with this. Should I call the pedi now or wait and see what happens after the next hearing test.

 

I would wait for the retest unless she's going to the dr for something else. Jessy failed one ear but we went to the ent in 2 weeks and she failed there too. They cleaned her ears and she passed after that.

 

I've been helping our nurse with hearing tests. I'm also the coordinator with the school nurse to have volunteers to help with the testing and spend quite a bit of time with them doing testing. Honestly, I would wait.

When we test (hearing and vision) the kids, the first time is more like a weed-out. It's a quick test that we try for accurate results but we're also in a time crunch to get through quite a few classes in a short period of time. The first hearing screen is done by our health clerk (not our school nurse) with parents writing down results. The first vision screen is by parents assisting the nurse. It flags the kids that need a second look. For the retest, the nurse does all of it by herself with the child, one-on-one.

Honestly, at our school, you wouldn't have been told she failed the first test. We don't notify parents unless the second screening comes back funny also. We try and figure out specifically what is wrong when a child doesn't pass. For example, the head phones could have been sitting funny. One girl totally couldn't hear the test and we figured out that her ear was folded over under the headphones and she wasn't telling us. Unfolded the ear and she did great. If they fail, we check for excessive wax. And some kids honestly don't understand the test and get confused by what they are supposed to do. Our nurse will retest them one-on-one and maybe try a different method with them.

It's nothing to be upset about or call your ped about yet. Wait for them to retest her. And I'm taking my own advice on this. Timothy failed his first hearing screen. I only know because I was up there helping with them. I talked it over with them and we all feel like his seasonal allergies are probably what's messing him up. He takes allergy meds, but every morning he gets up and sneezes out great quantities of snot. Once he gets on into the day and the meds kick back in, he's fine. So we're going to retest him in December or whenever the allergies are good and gone. If we leave his allergies untreated, he gets fluid build-up in the ears and ear infections.

Marissa

 

I'd wait until after the second test. Good luck !

 

The only reason I know she fail was because she told me otherwise the school nurse whould not have called. The nurse said that she will probably retest her one on one and make sure that she understands what the full directions are. Including making sure she knows what the sounds that she needs to listen sounds like before she puts the headphones on her. SInce Dani was so upset and I was in the school yesterday, I stopped in. The nurse was the one had adminstered the test, and hse showed me where they did the test and put the head phone on my ears so I could hear what it sounds like.

 

I get that she told you. I know that when I was in school I told my mom when I had failed the vision test. And if my kids had come home upset, I would have been in the nurses office also.

I was just trying to make that point that just because they fail one hearing test doesn't indicate a problem. I know our nurse, and it sounds like your nurse, understands there are many reasons a child can fail a hearing test and it doesn't have to be hearing related.

Marissa

 

My son also failed a hearing test at school and was sent to a university hospital for further testing. At the university hospital, he passed the hearing test with flying colors. They didn't find anything wrong. The tester at the university hospital said they get alot of kids who fail the hearing test at school but their hearing is just fine. They said there are alot of distractions in a school nurse's office (other kids coming in and out, noise coming from the hallway, etc.) Many kids get too distracted by the noise around them and can't concentrate on the task at hand. I hope your daughter does well on her second test. But even if she doesn't, she just might need to be tested in a completely silent environment like my son did.

 

Thanks.
They retested her yesterday. No clue why so soon since the first test was Tuesday this one was Thursday. She again came home telling us she fail. She said she was able to hear the sound whent he nurse held up the head phones but could not hear it when the head phones was over her ears. I'm not sure what to make of that. Since the nurse told me she was going to retest her next week, i think i'm just going to wait till next week

 

2 of my 4 kids fail the test almost every time. Jack is in 3rd grade and has failed every year. I take him to the ENT and sometimes he passes and other times he has mild hearing loss. Allergies they believe are a big cause of that. One of my best friends is the school nurse and called me to tell me and had me come in and take the test so I could hear what he couldn't hear. I was amazed. He is going back to the ENT next month for another check. One time after he failed it, he went to ENT, failed it there, had a CAT scan and we found a massive sinus infection everywhere that we had no clue about. A round of antibiotics later and he was hearing fine. If he did fail, usually the school just wants to make sure you go to the dr, have them look at it and make sure he is okay.
Kenna failed hers at school and at the ENT and has a mild/moderate hearing loss in her left ear. We aren't sure what is causing her hearing loss, she has has a couple eardrum ruptures from infections (as Jack has too) so that could be it.

Good luck and hope its just seasonal!

 

I'm an audiologist. Honestly, some kids just really need a professional to get accurate results. Based on your description of what she is saying, she either doesn't "get" the task or is just enjoying the attention (not saying that she's lying outright but it's something that kids sometimes just do).

School screenings should be taken with a grain of salt. They are screenings and only typicaly screen at the bare minimum we want for an ADULT and not a child. We want kids to be in the 0-15dB range and give adults the 0-25DB range. Typically, schools screen at 25dB, which for a kid to have is often what I call a "minimal" loss and one we monitor closely for any shift. Plus they are often conducted in places not conducive for testing, such as in an office/cafeteria with several other distractions present. It's hard enough for a young child to focus on a task, nevermind trying to test them with distractions.

 

UPDATE:

So last night was parent teacher confrence. One of the first things the teacher( ask was if I spoke to the nurse. I had not spoken to the nurse since the day after she failed the hearing test. I'm going to take Dani to the doctor to get her hearing tested. I think i'm going to call an ENT and explain what the teacher said and make her an appointment.

 

Your Dr may or may not test her in office. They likely will send her to an audiologist- you may want to call the Dr and see what they would like to do and save a trip in!

Or possible have the school speech/Lang teacher to test her again (not the nurse).

 

Yes, call the ENT/audi

 

Next update:

Monday i get a call from the school nurse's office to pick dani up she is complaining her ear hurts. Of course I bring her into the pedi, he tells me she has fluid in her ear. I go through the failing of the hearing test at school and that I want a recommendation for an ENT to take her to. The doctor explains that any hearing test will just be inconclusive since she has fluid in her ears. They have a machine in her office that measures the ear drum vibration. It is supposed to show a mountain shape in a box. For Dani's left ear it was the right shape but not in the box, and nothing really with the right ear. We are going back in 2 weeks.

 

Are you required by insurance to have a referral? If not, screw the pedi and get your child to the ENT. If you are required, force the issue. DD fell way behind in school due to not being able to hear care of fluid in the ear. This has gone on too long.

 

I agree with pp. Go right to ent. That's their specialty. I can tell you mine would say to put tubes in but all drs are different. Btw I know I wrote about my son and his hearing tests earlier but we are going through the exact same thing again currently. His ped put him on antiobiotics for ten days (in case its another silent sinus infection) then we will restest hearing. If he fails still ( he has fluid as well) then we are doing a cat scan. My ped is doing all this bc we can't get in to the ent until January 26.

 

So today was supposed to be Dani's last day of antibodies, but when she went to take it last night there was last than 1/2 a dose left. The pharmacy shorted us by almost 2 doses. I called them, they said they were going to call the dr office in the mornining to see if they wanted to her to take the last 2 doses. Except the pharmacy just faxed a need a refill to the dr. The dr's office called me to find out why they got that fax. They left me a message. I called them back, explained what happened with the medicine. The main dr actually got on the phone with me, he had us come in this afternoon for a recheck. I should mention that they misplaced Dani's chart today at some point between when they called and when we came in. I made sure i explained what was going on to the Dr since it was not the same Dr.
The Dr. did the machine to test for the fluid in the ear/ vibration in the ear drums. He had a hard time getting a reading in Dani's right ear. He thought it was just since Dani moved. Then he got a good reading. Said everything was fine. Asked if I still wanted them to do the hearing test. I got the feeling that the Dr didn't think she need it. Of course I had them do it. After the nurse finished the test, she asked if the school said anything about Dani having an issue with one of the ears over the other.
The Dr gave me the # of the ENT/audiologist to call and have them test Dani.

 

Holy cow!! What a pain in the butt! I am glad you are going to the ent. I hope you get some answers there! We just finished our antibiotics and are going to have school test him again. Good luck!

 

I'm taking her Monday to the ENT/audologist. Hopefully we will get some answers. I think if I didn't take the appoitment on Monday there was nothing for the next 2 weeks. I'm trying to decide if i should send her to school in the morning. School starts at 9:10 and pick her up by 11 for the appoitment. Then I have to figure out what to do after the appoitment. If it is quick I can take her back to school, otherwise I have no clue.

What are some questions I should be asking at the ENT?

 

Are you meeting with audiologist and the ent? I made the mistake with my daughter of only making it with the audiologist and then was stuck as to what to do with the results. Our hearing test at the ent office took about 25 minutes, they go into a sound proof box. I got to watch the whole thing and could see what she wasn't hearing.
I will say I was surprised that my ent doesn't seem to concerned with my kids hearing loss. It has been listed as mild to moderate. On their sheets they have 25s at the lower frequency and 35-40 at the higher frequency. He has told me eventually might need hearing aids. He has talked about putting more tubes in to see if that helps. If they see excessive fluid (flat line or irregular line on the tymp test) that could mean fluid. Ill be interested to hear what your ent says. My ped is supposed to be calling in for a cat scan since jack failed his hearing test yesterday at school.

 

I hope you find answers! GL with her at the ENT's Monday!

 

Was this a conductive hearing loss (Due to some sort of blockage such as fluid) or a sensorineural (nerve) hearing loss? If it's a "nerve" type of hearing loss please see another ENT/audiologist. I, obviously, don't know the full details as I can't see the audiogram or know the full history, but a mild to moderate nerve type of hearing loss really should be fit with hearing aids (generally speaking).

 

I wish I knew!! First cat scan came back with massive sinus infection. That was 4 years ago. They honestly acts like its no big deal. Its been 4 years now! He had perfect hearing when he was born but like 11 infections his first year of life. He is seeing a brand new ent next month. My daughter has the same issue but only in one ear so maybe its genetic.

 

The appoitment was for both the ent and the audiologist. First the audiologist looked at her ears. Said she had pressure in them. Not really sure what that meant. Then the audiologist took her into the hearing test room. First he did the vibration machine (not sure what it is called), then she went into the sound proof booth. She would get so excited when she heard the sound, the audiologist would have to tell her to put her hand down. But she failed it
The ent looked in her ears under a big microscope. He put her on nasal spray and we go back in 3 weeks.

 

Sounds like she might have "negative pressure" in her ears. The "vibration test" (tympanometry) measures the length of the ear canal, the pressure in the middle ear, and how well the ear drum vibrates. With negative pressure, the ear drum is "sucked back" and therefore can't move as well and this can lead to reduced hearing. Sometimes the nasal spray is given to help open up the eustacian tube that runs from the middle ear space to the back of throat. Its job is to equalize the pressure in our middle ear by a little flap opening and closing. So, if that flap doesn't open appropriately, it can cause negative pressure to build up. (this is why people often "pop" their ears on air planes or driving up a mountain. The change in air pressure causes negative pressure to build up in the middle ear space and people force the eustachian tube open by "popping" their ears).

 

Sounds like it might just have been a temporary conductive situation but I would certainly get another look at it to know for sure. Better safe than sorry.