Doctor says lip is caused by thumb sucking...just one problem

[belgo]

DD1 doesn't suck her thumb and never has done. Nor has she ever had a dummy.

She saw the school doctor on monday and they have identified gaps in her teeth and a lisp, and the solution is for her to stop thumb sucking. But how can she stop something she doesn't do? And how will her lisp improve?

I have to admit I hadn't noticed her lisp (I am probably used to it) but I am wondering now if she needs speech therapy. Both dh and I had extensive speech therapy as children so it's hardly a surprise that she might need it too.

As for her teeth, the dentist told us she will need a brace at some point. She lost her milk teeth very early and the adult teeth came down in a bit of a mess. Nothing we could do to stop that.

Any advice?

Oops just noticed typo in title - should be lisp.

Sorry to hear that how old is your DD1?
DD1 (almost 6) has some pronounciation problems. She has a deformed palate (very high) and a narrow jaw. The GP/dentist in the UK fail to notice it.
She's never suck anything either.
Not much can be done.
But she does loves singing and foreign languages, and it has made a huge improvement on her speach. Is there any chance that your DD will enjoy joining a choir or learning french or german?

Sorry belgo, your DD probably speak french already what about chinese?

Belgo - for how long did you breastfeed DD1, and did you do so exclusively? Did she ever have a bottle or dummy?

mamaloco - thatnk you for your reply - she is nearly seven.

She was a late talker, which was probably due to having a hearing problem (solved by gromits). She is biligual - english and flemish (a germanic language with very nuanced pronuniciation of vowels - most enlgish people cannot pronounce the sounds accurately).

Flemish is her preferred language. The only sound she cannot say is 'th' - but no flemish people can pronounce that. I am hopeless at helping her because my own speech is rubbish.

She is having piano lessons and the teacher encourages her to sing, and so do I, and her singing voice has improved.

That's strange that they didn't ask whether she did it first. (Then again I've always been a bit sceptical of this notion that thumb sucking causes teeth to stick out or speech problems etc)

What did they say when you said she didn't suck her thumb, did they not believe you?

Sorry - just noticed you said she never had a dummy.

It does sound, from the info you have given, that your DD's lisp and teeth problems are entirely genetic. In which case you might need to consider finding a sympathetic paed dentist/orthodontist and speech therapist who will work in conjunction to sort it all, as you cannot do anything yourself and nor can DD.

Bonsoir - she never had a bottle or dummy - bf until one year.

They did ask her if she sucked her thumb and she said 'yes' - apparently my mil told her not to put her thumb in her mouth but I think she was just picking her teeth or something, and dd1 has confused this with thumb sucking.

Yes I think it is genetic and I think we are very lucky that her speech is generally very good. Me, my brother and dh, and my father, were all impossible to understand as children, which is why I'm such a believer in speech therapy.

I'm just surprised that I never noticed the lisp.

I knew I remembered you from the multilingual thread.
They have to take into account the bilinguism too it doesn't help with lisps.

DD1 wasn't able to say u in french and for some reason learning german at school she now can.
Still can't say th, ch, sh and french r (DH can't so she will probably never).
I agree with bonsoir that it is probably genetic like my DD, and not much can be done by you.

Also I thought that having a lisp and problem with th was normal untill at least 7?

I'm sure you can find a great paed dentist/orthodontist who can advise on her teeth - I don't think it is worth undergoing speech therapy for the lisp until you have worked out a strategy for her teeth as this problem may well be dependent on dentition.

I'm just a bit annoyed that the blame has been put on non-existent thumb sucking rather then recommending her for the appropriate referrals.

I will have to speak to my own GP.

Good point bonsoir - my sil is her dentist so I will speak to her. It could very well be her teeth causing her lisp.

There has been a diagnostic error. Often happens, especially in school doctor consultations (which are a bit sketchy, IME). Use the opportunity to get her teeth looked at properly - it does sound genetic, and she may well need quite a lot of help with orthodontics, so it will be a long haul - though well worth it .

Funnily enough the doctor's report was hand written and practically illegible

OOps I'm not laughing at the doctor's handwriting, I'm just thinking of that other thread in "development'

God, what a lot of bunkum.
I'm a speech and language therapist and can tell you that there is no link between thumb sucking and 'lisps'.
A basic runtthough of placement for articulation makes that apparent.
An authoritative air gets you a long way eh?

Thanks moondog!

They really dislike thumb sucking in Belgium. My friend was told to give her four year old a dummy to stop her sucking her thumb - she is now six, still thumb sucks and has got the most beautiful speech and perfect teeth.

anyway dd1 has beautiful handwriting so that is one less thing to worry about

I frequently suck my thumb still and couldn't have given a hoot if my kids had thum sucked or had dummies until they were 13.

and there was me congratulating myself on the fact that none of my children thumb suck or have dummies!

I think you can congratulate yourself on those things, belgo. Even if not harmful, thumb sucking and dummy sucking are very unattractive beyond babyhood!

One of my cousins sucked a dummy until the end of primary school. She has all sorts of socialisation issues to this day that I suspect ought to have been dealt with when she was a small DC.

I sucked my thumb at bedtime till I was 17 quite old and no speech or teeth problems here! Anecdotal I know, but even so.