United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My son Ryan has a ROBPI at birth, he has had primary (nuroma), secondary (Mod Quad), and capsulodesis, and will have the triangle tilt in May. He also is a little behind in his speech, having a hard time saying some words, our speech therapist thinks the BPI may have something to do with it, Has anyone had/seen a similar experience?

Thanks, Wayne

Not sure if it's related, but my son who is also ROBPI was in speech therapy for a while when he was about 2. He is now 6 and still struggles with pronunciation of certain letters and words. He can not pronounce his "r"'s at all. Poor thing....he has an "r" in his name and just cannot say his name to save his life.

I have actually heard of quit a few kids with BPI having to take speech therapy.

Laura

Our daughter is 2 and has problems with speech, never thought it was her arm, but what do I know she only says a few words and not very clear understanding her.
We took her to a speach therapist but they thought she might be being babyed cuse of her arm (ROBP) We have never babyed her anymore than our other 3 kids....

Melly,
Although the speech difficulty could be BPI related, it might also be the "4th child" syndrome (so to speak). I know several people with 4 kids (none of them BPI) and most of their children have speech issues (4th child). I've heard it might be because the older children are always talking and the youngest child doesn't get a chance or feel the need to talk. I am not sure why it is, but it is pretty common. May not be the cause in your daughter's case, but still a possibility!

Take care

Speech issues here too, but pretty much grew out of them by age 3.

My son who has a LOBPI did not say much at all by 2 years of age. But by the time he was 3 he was pretty much caught up. He is now 5 and just has a few pronunciation issues, but nothing that is abnormal for his age.
It's an interesting topic. Andrew is my 5th child. My 2nd son also did not hardly talk at all at age 2. He is now 18 and in college and does very well. I guess we'll never know what is BPI related and what is just normal child development.
Good luck with your search for answers and with your son.

Connie

My daughter also had speech issues, she is lobpi. She was the "silent child". At first my peds thought it was that she was the 4th...but I don't buy into that. I was the 4th and spoke early and walked later. I think there is a bpi connection, though I don't know what it is. Perhaps the kids are so busy healing and therapy-izing that they just don't speak.

My daughter is now 5 and in Kindergarten and though she has a few interesting pronunciations, she is really no different from the other kids.

We did have a speech therapist for about 18 months. She helped get Juliana started.

good luck,
claudia

Our speech therapist told us that often times with a BPI the muscles in the face, cheek, chin and jaw can be damaged or weakened from the injury itself. This can cause problems in pronouncing certain words and sounds. It is generally an easily fixed problem with appropriate exercises like blowing, sucking, massage, etc. Also, if there are issues with ears such as infections or fluid, that can cause problems in hearing things, especially end sounds of words and the vowels. That, in turn, can cause problems with pronouncing sounds. Just wanted to share what our therapist found. Speech therapy has done wonders for my 2 year old and she made progress very quickly once the problem was discovered.

My nine year old has voice issues to this day! Her voice is neither strong or clear and I suspect as do her Doc's that it has to do with damage from her BPI to her diaphram.

Good Luck
Lenni

Our daughter is almost 19mo. with LOBPP. She was severe stretch to c5 and some stretching to c67,8. Her arm started "working" at 9.5 mo. old, but she has about a 6-7 mo. delay in speech as well. This, of course, includes eating challenges and drinking challenges. She started speech therapy a month ago, and they just bumped her up to two days a week. Point is, i thought it may be related too.
She needed an MRI (for something else) a couple of months ago, I asked the nerologist for a script to go up on the head. He wouldn't give it to me. Yes, he's friends with my 'old' OB. (and now he's me 'old' nerologist)
Anyway, she just saw her BPI doctor. He says that's it's brain. He doesn't think it's related to the stretch injury. Told me to see a pediatric ear, nose throat, specialist. So that's our next move.