The Brookston Family Blog

We've been concered about Porter's hearing almost since the time he was born. Even as an infant he rarely responded to even the loudest of noises. Clap right behind his head and he wouldn't even flinch. We had his hearing checked when was only about nine weeks old and were told it was okay. Then last year when we were going through the diagnostic procedures that led to Porter's diagnosis of autism, his ears were checked again. On that occasion, Porter was just getting over his latest ear infection and they saw fluid in his ears. His hearing test came back as borderline okay and they put its being so close to the edge down to the ear infection and recommended a further test. Then a couple of months ago an ear test at school further revealed some issues with Porter's hearing and further testing was again recommended. So we spoke to Porter's pediatrician about it and she sent us to Marin General for another test. Yet another ear infection pushed that back until today when we finally had his second hearing test.



This was taken just after the testing was completed.

What they did during the test was put headphones on Porter (which he absoluetly hated but was a trooper, nonetheless) and pipe sounds into one side or the other. Porter was given a colored wooden cylinder to hold up to his ear. When he heard a sound, he was then to put the cylinder down into one of the peg holes on the board. Then after that part was completed, she took a picture of the inside of Porter's ears. His left ear checked out just fine. His right ear, on the other hand, still had fluid in it. So now it's back to his pediatrician to see what can be done about what appears to be chronic fluid in his ear. Given that we've noticed, and his teachers have noticed, that he's often a step behind in songs and other choreographed group activities it seems likely that fluid in his ears cannot be helping the situation of his slower response time.