Glue Ear: What it is, and how you can help young children.
1 in 5 children under the age of 5 will have glue ear at any one time, and 8 out of 10 children will experience glue ear before the age of 10 (National Deaf Children’s Society, 2024). I am a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with over 15 years’ experience of working with Deaf adults and children in both educational and hospital settings. In this blog, I will explain what glue ear is, how it affects speech and language development, and how you can help the children in your setting who have glue ear.
What is Glue Ear?
Glue ear, or to use its medical term, Otitis Media with Effusion (OME) is caused by a build up of fluid in the middle ear, behind the ear drum. As this fluid accumulates, it can become thicker and stickier, preventing sound from being transmitted to the inner ear and the brain.