Otitis media is the medical term for a middle ear infection.  It is often referred to as 'glue ear' or 'runny ear'.  As the infection occurs in the middle ear behind the ear drum, the elasticity in the ear drum is impeded, thus affecting the quality of sound that enters the ear.  This is known as a conductive loss.  During the different stages of otitis media, sufferers may experience a fluctuating hearing loss.   As you cannot see that the sufferer is experiencing a bout of otitis media, it is difficult to determine whether they are suffering from a conductive hearing loss. 

 

Otitis media can often be overcome without surgery, however when the infection is reoccuring often ventilation holes (grommets) are inserted in the ear drum.  The grommets restore hearing to the ear however do not cure the underlying cause of the infection.

 

 

The Bandscales for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Learners in 1999 in response to the Review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education in Queensland State Schools. The recommendations from the review included the development of a process to enable the tracking of literacy achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

The Bandscales for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Learners are adapted from the ESL Bandscales (McKay P., Hudson C. and Sapuppo M. (1994) in NLLIA ESL Development: Language and Literacy in Schools (National Language and Literacy Institute of Australia: Canberra).  They monitor the reading, writing, listening and speaking developments of students.

Due to the high incidence of otitis media amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners, Major Teaching Emphases focussing on conductive hearing losses have been included to the Bandscales to support hearing impaired students.