Tongue tied?

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Hello,

I don't know if this is the right section or not, so sorry in advance.

My ds2 is tongue tied, i didnt think it was really an issue before, but he is really struggling with his formation of certain letters.
Such as "ya" instead of "la" the letter s, c and r are proving difficult too.

Its quite severe, he can barley stick out his tongue and the little it does stick out, makes it look like an upside down heart.

So i just wanted some feedback from people who are or have children who are tongue tied, And did you have the operation or just leave it?

Take it that it is the wrong section then.

Hi there.

How old is your DS? My DS (4) is severely tongue-tied and does struggle with some pronunications although we have found that he can say them, just that it is easier (or habitual) to use his version.

We didn't have the operation and I feel confident that DS - with practice - will manage to master the trickier sounds.

Perhaps make a game out of making sounds so that you can get an idea of whether the sounds are possible?

And speak to your HV or GP as well about getting a speech therapist referral if you feel it is needed.

HTH

My oldest two (now 7 & 8) were both tongue tied and had operations just before or after their first birthday. I was told that once they learn a certain way of talking it can be tricky to undo unless they have speech therapy.

Ya/la are common with or without tongue tie as are many letters when they first talk, but I would advise that you get it snipped.

My daughter was tongue tied and we didn't realize. Our dentist discovered it and he snipped it for us when she was 7. She had had some problems with some speech sounds but this disappeared after it was snipped.

How old is your DS?
I had my DS's tonguetie snipped at ~2wo because of bf'ing issues, so not very relevant - but a friend of mine had her DS1's done when he was about 3, it was also quite severe. She didn't know he had one until I was being bad, showing him how to stick his tongue out, and realised how tonguetied it was (like the upside down heart, and he could barely get it past his lower lip). He had had a fair few problems with speaking, partially dealt with by having grommets in his ears, but wasn't improving as much as she would have thought - so they had it done when he was about 3.6. At that stage, it needed a general anaesthetic and he was quite sore for a few days after, but it was well worth doing from her point of view as his speech did improve far more afterwards.

If your DS is only starting to talk now, you might be able to get away with a local anaesthetic and scissor separation - but you would need to get it checked out.

Hello everyone thanks for getting back to me, Ds is 4 we try to encourage him to make all the sounds he struggles with, he becomes very embarrassed about it. :(

I think i may speak to our gp about it, i noticed as soon as he was born, when he cried his tongue was taught, and he can only poke it out about a millimeter.

When he was 13 months he stopped talking all together, as he taught himself sign language and didnt really talk again until 18 months because we wouldn't respond to sign anymore. I think this happened because he struggled so much with what he was trying to say. poor little thing.

Hello

DS had his tongue tie cut at 9months during his first cleft palate op.

I would say get it done, it's really quick to do and actually the prep before and when he comes round will take much longer.

Thanks for the advice Hammer, I think i will do that! Cheers.