“…Children with otitis media typically have difficulties with language processing and social behavior. Researchers have reported that elementary aged children with a history of otitis media perform poorly on tests of auditory processing ability (Updike & Thornburg, 1992), speech and reading (Bellussi et al, 2005), reading ability (Updike & Thornburg, 1992), reading comprehension (Luotonen et al, 1998), vocabulary (Bellussi et al, 2005), and expressive language (Rach, Zielhuis, & van den Broek, 1988). However, other studies suggest that children with a history of otitis media do not have impaired verbal comprehension at ages 2-4 years (Rach et al, 1988), and may not have difficulties understanding speech, although the authors acknowledged high variability in the otitis media group (Keogh et al, 2005).…”