Jasey's Tongue

 Um, a tongue. I bet all those that are reading this are suddenly very aware of their own tongue. LOL!! When Jase turned 2 1/2 we noticed her speech wasn't very clear, having gone through this with her older brother we knew what to look for. We called our therapist and had her evaluated. We were surprised to find out she was severely tongue tied. To the point that she could not make front sounds ie T,D and S. It also had been effecting her eating, She hated eating bread or sandwiches because it would get stuck behind her front teeth and she couldn't fix it. The therapist had me place frosting on her upper lip to have Jase lick it off. She couldn't do it. Yes, I'm sure you are now trying this with your own tongue.

  By not having the mobility she could not say certain sounds or blends, thus she was compensating and saying things incorrectly. Try keeping the tip of your tongue on the bottom of your mouth while you make the T sound. Now say a word such as TALK. More often then not the T sound will be replaced with a CH blend sound. When saying the same word TALK, it now is being pronounced as CHALK, a completely different word and meaning. This gives Jase so much frustration when people can't understand her.  Fast forward, but mispronouncing affects learning to read and write. How do you sound out a word when you can't make the sounds. How do you try to spell when REALLY sounds like it starts with a W.

  We consulted her pediatric dentist and felt that a clipping of the membrane under her tongue would benefit her greatly. That is called a frenectomy. There has been a lot of debate if this even helps or if being tongue tied even cause speech problems. However, after a lot of research we felt it did cause a problem in Jase's case and a frenectomy would help.

  We had the procedure done in the dental office, with conscious sedation, and use of a laser. She did wonderful. Complained of pain only twice, later that same day and the following day when she decided to eat chips. We are continuing to work of stretching her tongue with exercises. This helps strengthen her tongue and prevent it from re healing together. 5 days out and she is great, talking up a storm and not complaining at all. We will continue the speech therapy and tongue exercises.  I'll post an update further out and note the progress she has made.