Source of hearing problems
Jill took Liam to see pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist Roy Rajan, MD, with Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital. After looking in Liam’s ears, Dr. Rajan discovered there was a significant amount of fluid behind his eardrums and that his adenoids were significantly larger than they should be – both of which were affecting Liam’s ability to hear clearly.
“As Dr. Rajan explained it to me, there was so much fluid behind Liam’s eardrums that they were essentially floating and that his eardrums were barely responding to anything,” Jill says.
In June 2022, Dr. Rajan performed an adenoidectomy and tube insertion on Liam, which would help the airway be more open and allow the ears to clear better. Now that he could hear clearly, the next step was to address his speech struggles, a secondary effect of not hearing clearly.
“Hearing plays a major role in a child’s development of speech and language skills,” Dr. Rajan says. “Hearing sounds and words helps children learn to talk and understand. So it’s not uncommon for a child who is experiencing hearing difficultly to struggle with speaking clearly, which can lead to other issues such as school success and development of social skills.”