DS 2 1/2 speech and persistent dribbling...

[childof79]

Basically as above. He started nursery a short while ago. His pronunciation of some words is really unclear and also he has always dribbled a lot. I have really noticed it since he started having playdates.

DH thinks he might have large tonsils. I guess I am wondering whether I should take him to the doctor or if he might grow out of it. I am feeling if it is what we think it is, it is not urgent and I would not necessarily want my child to have an operation at such a young age for something that he might grow out of. On the other hand I don't want to leave it too long until it becomes a problem.

Or am I just making a big deal out of nothing?

Could he have a tongue-tie? Did he breastfeed ok as a baby?

Breastfeeding was a dream with him. So easy - but he was always determined to eat. What would you do?

Watching with interest as DD, just turned 2, is also a dribbler of late.

DS1 dribbled a lot until he was around 3.5 I remember - all part of his SN though. DD has no SN that we are aware of.

I'd get him referred to salt. The dribbling may be caused by poor mouth muscles which can be one of the signs of speech apraxia. However, since only some of his pronounciation of words is unclear I would take that as a positive sign since it isn't all of his words. Mispronouncing words at that age is very common.

Interesting what people are saying. Would they have it at the health visitors / children's centre? He does make very distinct sounds so i don't think it is speech apraxia.

DS1 was like this - I was advise to get him to practise drinking through a straw to help him suck back up anything that was just about to dribble! It really helped. He also had speech therapy.
He's 11 now - no issues at all with his speech and he doesn;t dribble at all

Before going to slt get a hearing test done (I'm an slt and would want this to come back before seeing you) your hv or gp should be able to refer. Increased dribbling can sometimes be associated with glue ear type problems. However it can be very common for unclear speech and dribbling at 2 1/2 that will just eventually change.

Some tongue tied kids are able to breastfeed fine (ds2 is one), so don't rule it out just because he fed well.

I always thought that ds1 had large tonsils, but in actual fact it was just that I could see them very well because the back of his tongue was tied down (posterior tongue tie). After he got it released (age 6yo) his tongue started sitting higher up at the back of his mouth covering his tonsils and now you would need to use a tongue depressor if you wanted to see his tonsils.

DS1's ties were far more restrictive than ds2's, but ds1's speech was great apart from a tiny lisp. There's no logic to it, each case is different.

Have a read of this and see what you think.

Does he mouth breath a lot?