ear

my little brother is 7 years old. about two years ago he had  tubes put in he ears he also had his adnoids taken out.  any ways he has failed class and is very insecure .  this might sound crazy but my mother had a dream that some one told her to ceack his nerve system. by having them sergerys could he have had a nerve damage done, that the doctors may not have told us about? thanks ashley

[Joyce K Lee, MD]

Dear ashley,

Thank you for submitting your question.
I will answer your concerns to the best of my abilities, but please be informed that I am unable to offer a diagnosis based on your history and list of symptoms.
I am extremely limited in not having the opportunity to perform a full neurologic examination on you.
This is solely for educational purposes and should in no way be a substitute for a formal evaluation by a certified physician.

To begin, my sincere regards for your little brother.
I know that this must be particularly frustrating for him.
I am impressed with your initiative as his sister to inquire about causes for his poor performance in school.

To put it simply, yes there is a distinct possibility that your brother may have hearing problems which attribute to him failing school.

I am assuming that he had tubes placed in his ears for recurrent ear infections.
If so, he may having hearing problems from either all the ear infections he has had, the tubes themselves, or both.

Either way, he needs to be evaluated.

Here are my suggestions:
1) Have your mother take him for a formal hearing and vision test.
2) Ask your school counselor about setting him up with a neuropsychologist, who can perform multiple tests to determine why he is doing so poorly in school
3) Talk to his pediatrician about all these problems.

I hope this helps,
Good luck to you and your little brother,
JKL, MD