[vitosmom]

My 2 1/2 yr old son Vito says an average of about 10 words, none of those words are extremely clear for the exception of DADA. He communicates with hand gestures and whining. He has speech therapy once a week I have had his hearing checked (it was fine), I had him evaluated for ADD, ADHD, autism, etc. And the only thing conclusive is that he has a speech delay. He is the only child and I am a stay at home mom, so he doesn't interact with his peers often, and when he does it is extremely frustrating for both him and I.

Health wise it's been a bit of a rough ride. At 4 months old he had phonomania, from there this little boy has never went a full two months without a cold. His first year he had a terrible pediatrician, my son had numerous ear infections he was taken on and off about 5 antibiotics in a months time. After switching his pediatrician She learned my son had allergies, now he is on zyrtec and nasonex daily. Also he is allergic to peanuts and egg whites. Dairy makes him congested and soy gives him diarrhea. So getting all the right nutrition in him is a little tough sometimes. I also give him an all natural immune booster I got from the health food store, because as you can see this poor little boy has been on so many drugs it breaks my heart. I have been trying and failing miserably to just try and prevent the common cold, because it just leads into misery for him, most commonly an ear infection, or bronchitis.

Now more recently in the past two months he has had 4 ear infections and never went a day without at least a stuffy nose. The pediatrician has yet again referred me to an ENT(he went last year) to look into putting tubes in his ears, because of his often occurring ear infections.

My question is, will putting tubes in his ears get him to speak if his hearing test was fine anyway? Could there be another problem neurologically(thats my next specialist visit) that would affect his speech? I don't want put him through surgery to find there is a bigger problem than ear infections... Can anyone help?:(

[shygrneyzs]

What kind of hearing test was done? Was it an Auditory Brainstem Response test? If so, and that test was fine, then there are other things to consider. But if it was a basic hearing test and you have doubts, ask for a second opinion.

About the tubes - my youngest has had tubes put in and it was a very minor surgery. Having the tubes in did help as in decreasing the ear infections.
I would keep that specialist appointment you have and just be persistent in what you are doing. Explore all the options presented, then make your decision.

Good luck in finding the right solution for your son.

[Fr_Chuck]

For a friend of ours, their son could hear sounds but they were not clear, and the tubes did help him hear better, and helped ( or was at the same time and not related, hard to tell) but his speech started getting better afterwards.

But you need to look at the tubes for the reason he needs them, the infection and not expect it to help the other, unless the doctor specificly has checked for that.