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Can speech therapy help with tongue-tie?
My son is 3 years old and was diagnosed with tongue-tie when he was just 1 years old. The doctor told us that it would more than likely resolve itself, but now he's 3 and has trouble speaking. Can speech therapy help with tongue-tie?
9 Answers
A very good question. Without a good assessment of the lingual / tongue movements and your child's speech articulation skills, a :tongue tie" may or may not result in challenges "speaking clearly". I would ask your pediatrician for a referral to have your child evaluated by a Speech -Language Pathologist.
Yes, you would need to look for speech pathologist who is also a myofunctional therapist. Treatment of TOTs is usually done with a team approach: Speech Pathologist, Dentist, ENT, Pediatrician or Sleep specialist.
Yes a speech pathologist would be your first step. I suggest one that specialized in birth to 3. The SLP will make appropriate referrals as needed to resolve the tongue tie and therapy as needed. Tongue ties can impact later developing speech sounds and swallowing/feeding as well
Yes. Speech therapy can help. Many times one needs to have a Frenectomy, surgery to clip the frenulum. Then speech therapy.
The lingual frenulum (tongue tie) can restrict the tongue’s movement for proper articulation for speech sounds. I recommend to have an ENT or your pediatrician check your son’s lingual frenulum and either get it surgically corrected or start speech therapy. Speech therapy will likely help him catch up once it is corrected.
A tongue tie is typically surgically clipped at birth or as soon as it is noticed by doctors, therapists, parents, etc. I would recommend getting another opinion by a pediatrician and also an evaluation by a speech-language pathologist.
Yes, it can definitely, help him, however, after our evaluation, if it's noted that the tongue tie is not letting him produce certain sounds such as /l/ we usually refer patients to have a frenectomy.
Yes. If you are considered about his communication you can have him evaluated by a speech language pathologist. While many doctors have a "wait and see" approach, there is research that proves early intervention is key in optimal communication.
Hi,
Removing a tongue tie is a quick out-patient procedure that his family doctor should be able to do. Speech therapy may help additionally with any feeding or communication concerns secondary to the tongue tie.
Ali Matisse, MS CCC-SLP