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Ear Infections, Hearing and Learning

Developing the sense of hearing is also crucial to learning success. As a child grows, his brain learns to interpret sounds in the environment in order to attend to important information and to block out background noise.

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One of the biggest blocks to the development of the auditory pathways is chronic ear fluid.  Fluid in the middle ear will distort hearing and can result in developmental delays as well as auditory processing problems.  This ear fluid can cause children to have tonal processing problems or be sensitive to certain frequencies.  When a child is sensitive to sounds, he may have a tendency to not listen.  All of this can lead to a poorly developed auditory processing system and may impact the child's speech.  If he doesn't hear complete sentences, he won't learn to speak in complete sentences.  If he can't distinguish certain sounds then this may interfere with the proper enunciation of words.  Once in school, this can cause problems with reading and spelling.

Fluid in the ear should be treated aggressively.  Have an ENT doctor perform a tympanogram if you are concerned about hearing related problems.  For every year that a child has fluid in the ear, they will probably be a year developmentally delayed.

Fluid in the ear can cause problems with the inner ear or vestibular system as well.  This is the part of the ear that controls balance.  Fluid in the ears can also put pressure on the visual system which can lead to tracking and convergence problems of the eyes.  The eyes and ears are tied together as 25 percent of the nerves leaving the optic nerve go to the auditory areas of the brain.

If possible, it is best to identify the source of the ear fluid.  Allergies can often be the culprit.  Milk and other food allergies as well as environmental factors are often a source for fluid build up in the middle ear.

Plan a visit with your pediatrician to have this important sensory system evaluated and to help ensure your child's learning success.

Categories: Literacy, Mathematics, Auditory Processing, Health and Nutrition, Special Needs | Permalink | Send feedback »

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Meet Kim Ashby | Owner

Kim Ashby earned a BS in Nursing from The Catholic University of America and, when she worked outside the home, was a Certified Emergency Nurse with a special interest in trauma nursing. She lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband and three sons. The Ashbys have home schooled their children since 1999. They graduated their oldest son in May 2007. He is attending UNC Wilmington. Kim continues to home school her younger boys. Her oldest son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was in the public school system in the second grade. Her second son has cerebral palsy which has resulted in multiple/global developmental delays. Her youngest son has undiagnosed, mild auditory processing issues.

Kim has co-instructed graduate level courses at UNC Chapel Hill for ST/OT students and Early Intervention students. She is the founder and President of the Board of Directors of GIFTSNC, Inc., a home schooling special needs support group. Kim has presented workshops at a variety of state home school conferences as well as local support group parent meetings and is often a guest speaker at homeschool conferences and is found on many guest speaker lists including Balancing the Sword. She is a Steering Committee member and former Treasurer for Dayspring Home Educators in Cary, NC. She served on the Board of Directors for the Family Support Network of Wake County. She holds a North Carolina Wildlife Permit for Small Mammal Rehabilitation and enjoys working with orphaned and injured wildlife.

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." Mark Twain