> The authors found that children with more than 4 otitis (AOM) episodes
>
> before the age of 3 years performed less well in reading comprehension
>
> than children with fewer episodes.  Early AOM was associated with
> impaired reading comprehension test scores.

This is interesting to me, both on a professional level (about to start
a part-time job as a speech therapist with the local school district)
and on a personal one.  My children are the ear-infection poster
children.

My oldest (now 7), born 4 weeks preterm, breastfed 19 months, had
constant OM, got PE tubes at 2 1/2 years and was somewhat delayed in
expressive language, but caught up on his own with no intervention
needed.  He is reading on target for his age and is quite bright.  He
also has ADHD.

My second (now 5), breastfed 27 months, also had very frequent OM. She
is, by far, one of the most verbally precocious children I have ever
seen.  She is ahead of her age in reading skills.

My third (now 32 months), currently breastfeeding, got PE tubes at 10
months, due to OM and depressed hearing (about a 25 dB loss across the
board).  She has just started speech therapy as her expressive language
is several months behind and it is nearly impossible for non-family
members to understand her speech.  She is, however, several months
*ahead* in her receptive language.  There is almost a year's difference
between her expressive and receptive language skills.  It will be
interesting to see how this pans out when she begins to read.

Kathy, in Maryland, where it has been raining for days.
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Kathy Koch, BSEd, IBCLC
LLL Leader, AAPL
mailto:[log in to unmask]          Great Mills, MD, USA
http://www.prairienet.org/~sak/maya.html   (Maya's Angels)
"Within the child lies the fate of the future."   Maria Montessori
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