Do Middle Ear Infections Matter? Student Self-reported Perceptions of Behaviour, Including Social Skills, Following Experience with Otitis Media with Effusion

This article has been anonymously peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in the International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, an international, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on issues and trends in pedagogies and learning in national and international contexts. ISSN 1833-4105. © Copyright of articles is retained by authors. As this is an open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings. Children frequently experience fluctuating conductive hearing loss during and following episodes of otitis media with effusion. With the prevalence of the disease increasing in the non-Indigenous population in Australia, many children may be at risk of long-term problems related to their behaviour. There are conflicting findings in the research literature regarding the effects of this type of hearing loss. For some students it appears that experience with otitis media with effusion with or without tympanostomy tube (grommet) insertion is associated with various educational problems, including inappropriate behaviours. A current concern is whether or not these possible effects would continue to influence the behaviour of children as the