Dribbling - when does the *average* child stop?

[marthamoo]

Ds2 is 28 months and is still incredibly dribbly. He has all his teeth now, though the back molars are not completely through, but it shows no signs of abating. His clothes get sodden in no time - I have to change his top layer and vest at least twice a day, often three times. He won't wear a cloth bib, btw, he just pulls it off. Ds1 was fairly dribbly too but not in the same league, and I can't remember when he stopped but I'm sure it was before this age.

It doesn't bother me that much, apart from all the washing, but while we were in Wales last week (and spending time with my nephew who is just a little older than ds2 and not dribbly at all) dh decided in his wisdom that ds2 is dribbling through habit and started nagging at him to stop. Needless to say, we "had words." as I don't think it is something that ds2 can control.

Any ideas?

Btw, apologies to anyone who has a late dribbler due to SN, and thinks this is utterly trivial - I tried to word my thread title carefully.

My brother dribbled well into his primary school years. hE had no other problems re speech/eating etc. This was definitely habit. If he was concentrating on something (or not) then his mouth would be open and it would all just drool out. We called him the boy with the hole in his lip, (which has probably scarred him for life) - but for him it was just one of those things and nothing more. Hope that's all it turns out to be for those worrying. My brother just had to learn to slurp it all back in and concentrate more - bit graphic sorry

Update:

Went to see the HV on Tuesday - she was very good, listened to what I had to say (armed with much information from fab MNers) and has agreed it would be a good idea to get him checked out by a speech therapist. She said the waiting list is pretty long though

She also said I should see the GP with him just to have him checked over for any underlying ENT problems (adenoids and tonsils, etc., like bluebear's son). I have made him an appointment tomorrow so I will keep you all posted.

Thanks again to all who took the time to reply.

Just caught this,

ds (4 & 1/2) dribbled almost constantly until nearly 4, especially when he had a cold/ bunged up nose.

He gradfually stopped, but still tends to dribble because he sticks he tongue out when concentrating, such as colouring inside the lines. His speech is excellent tho' I honestly have never worried about it (too much else to worry about)

saw this the other day but didn't have time to add message. I'm with elliott on this one! DS1 is 28 months and has been dribbling since 3m. Am going to try not to worry but maybe try him on a straw which might be fun anyway (couldn't be messier than trying to drink out of a cup )

Message withdrawn

marthamoo- meant to give the feedback from the conference. Dribbling can be a sign of dysarthria (basically slack facial muscles) which can interfere with speech- the kids with that though were very obvious (looked kind of droopy and speech was very poor- although we may just have seen bad cases on the videos). typcially they could make sounds like "ahhh" but not tight vowels like "eeee"

Another reason given was allergies- permanent bunged up nose leading to an open mouth and slack tongue. Wise to check out adenoids and tonsils.

Just to repeat Jimjams - dribbling can be a sign of oral dyspraxia - my son has oral dyspraxia and dribbles loads (now 5) also can't speak brilliantly (main problems now with c and g, but couldn't say s or f or many other letters a couple of years ago), late sucking straws, very messy eater etc.

Jimjams - what's the difference between oral and verbal dyspraxia? do you have more info on dysarthia? (lack of control of facial muscles is my ds's biggest problem).

oral dyspraxia is a problem with the gross motor movements of the mouth and affects chewing etc. verba (which can coexist) is a problem with the speech sounds. Often the children can say the sounds individually but are not able to put them together into words. Or sometimes they can't say the sounds but could say a "reflex" word. Eg saw a video of a little girl last week who couldn't say "nn" but could say "no".

Not sure how dysarthria relates to this- simsilar to oral dyspraxia I think but perhaps more of a problem with speech thena you may get with oral dyspraxia. Not being able to say "eee" was a definite indicator.

try kidspeech.com there may be more info there

We have just seen a new speech therapist who is suggesting that dysarthria might be the problem. I will have to research it, and also find out whether he has oral or verbal dyspraxia. Sorry didn't mean to hijack the thread.

(I have read your some of your other threads Jimjams- you know alot about dyspraxia (I feel very guilty that I haven't done more to help ds) - v helpful thanks!).

An update: we had our appointment with the speech therapist today.

She has advised that we "gently remind" him, as often as possible, to close his mouth and swallow the saliva - I am to demonstrate swallowing by making over-the-top gulping noises at him. Also to wipe his chin often - all geared towards making him aware of the dribbling and encourage him to get into the habit of swallowing as opposed to dribbling.

Tbh, I have noticed an improvement since I first posted about this - his clothes are not as saturated as they were. Hopefully, he is starting to get the hang of being a non-dribbler by himself and just needs a little positive intervention. The ST wants to see us again in 4 months, so I don't think she finds him particularly fascinating!

Those of you with experience of STs - are they always so...patronising? Apparently when he mispronounces a word I should say it back to him - eg., "daddy's a berk" and I reply "yes, daddy's at work" (prefer ds2's version myself ) and I should talk to him as he plays/looks at a book and tell him about things. Duh....really? Gosh, I would never have done that without being told. This will improve his vocabulary!! I don't actually have any concerns about his vocabulary.

I told dh about it and he said (as I knew he would) "see, I was doing the right thing telling him to stop dribbling." Grrrrrrr.

Thanks again for all the good advice.

SALTS can certianly be patronising. There are good ones though!

I talk in that "yes, that's right blah de blah" way the entire time with both my children now. It's comepletely ingrained. Can always spot an autistic child form the way the mother speaks "listening", "looking", "yes that's right cat", "sit on seat".

Glad the dribbling's drying up.

Just curious- how long did you wait for an appointment- we've been waiting 5 months for ds2 to be seen now.

Jimjams, sorry I missed your last post. We didn't have to wait long at all (despite the HV telling me we would) - about 5 weeks I think. Have you had your appointment yet?