My son has a REALLY husky voice

[BarryShitpeas]

Hi everyone.

Hope you don't mind me copy & pasting a thread I started in children's health.

It has gone unanswered, so I thought I'd put it here too.

Thanks, here goes:

Ds is 3.5. Since he started to babble as a baby he has had a really husky voice.

He is a twin and his sister has "normal" speech patterns. He was much slower to speak than she was, and is much quieter generally.

Every hcp we have seen have commented on it, but no one has suggested there might be anything wrong.

He was born with club foot and has had restricted mobility due to being in a splint for this (about 12 hours a day). We have stopped this treatment now. I am not sure if he was slower to speak because of this, or because he is a boy. You are not supposed to compare twins development but it is so hard not to.

Has anyone come across this before?
Do I need to push for more checks from the gp, or is it nothing to worry about?

I am a regular under a new name btw!

My DS1 (NT) has always had a husky voice and it was commented on by the HV from an early age. She suggested it could be enlarged adenoids or tonsils as he was quite a nose breather too but this was ruled out by the GP.
Another suggestion was that it was caused by him being a noisy baby which made sense as he cried pretty much constantly the first two years so I put it down to this.
As he has become older (he's 6 now) he seems to have grown in to his voice if that makes sense although he's just as noisy! HTH

Thanks adriennemole. Was your ds really a crier then? My ds seemed quite passive- certainly cried less than his sister.

Anymore unusually-voiced dc out there?

When my DS3 was born, the paediatrician was concerned - although that is too strong a word for it - by the 'animal' noises that he was making from his throat. He was thoroughly checked out with his breathing, throat etc. I was told it was just how he was - there was nothing wrong. He was slightly slow to speak - although at 3.6 is absolutely fine now. His problem is swallowing - still on puree foods. Whether the 2 are linked, i do not know as the paediatricians have not worked out the cause and are not exactly busting a gut to do so. The only person pressing for an answer is me.
So i have no idea tbh. although he does do lovely monster voices and has a good singing voice!

dd2 has always had a very unusual tone to her voice, but she has cp and has had a lot of issues lol. she sounded like beavis and butthead initially, but monotone. (she also sounded like darth vader when she breathed - very noisy). she was very late with any sound, and her speech was very delayed - we were told she would always need some form of ACT.

at 7, she has learnt to modulate her voice to some extent, and her breathing is a lot quieter. she also appears to be in the school choir, which tickles me hugely, and i can't imagine how the music teacher deals with it, but there's inclusion for you.

What about a SALT referral if you are worried to see if it is anything they can work with?

DD (3) also has a slightly monotone and husky voice. She talks loads but is a bit slurred and unclear at times. She has mild motor difficulties related to hypoxic brain injury.

Is positive to hear your DD has developed some modulation to her voice madwoman and is in the school choir!

Thanks all.

Apparently you can refer yourself to see a SALT. Is this correct?

Not trying to drip feed, but ds also has a funny shaped head (flat at back with lump to left top side), so I have wondered if this could have an impact on speech.

Ipercentawake- my ds is also monotone, I'd forgotten until you wrote that about your dd!

Great about the choir!

the process for referral is different depending on where you are - usually gp or paed is quicker. we can self-refer here.

1percent - dd2's cp was caused by birth hypoxia, does dd have damage to basal ganglia etc? i have to say that the slt who told us she was unlikely to become verbal wouldn't recognise her now - i can't get her to shut up. we use nuffield dyspraxia programme for clarity - it's very very good.

no idea about head shape tbh - was he referred to paed for checking as a tiny? usually the flatness is just a cosmetic issue afaik (unless related to other issues like retained reflexes etc/ some sort of palsy). usually they are more concerned if head is unusually small or large, rather than odd shaped .