United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

my son has a BPI and has a severe speech issue he has been in therapy for 2 years now and still cant speak well, his articulation is not good at all, and am wondering if you all think it could be related to his BPI?

Hi, I do not have actual documentation on this issue

but do know that many Erb's Palsy - BPI little ones

have speech issues,including mine.Some, because of

damage to the --------.[ forgot word] Good luck, Lou

my son jared actually sees a speech therapist and started when he was 4 months old. He was even unable to swallow. SO, yes... i do believe it can be related depending on where the nerve damage is.

P.S. phrenic nerve is what I was trying to remember

when my brain went dead. As I said, I do not know of

actual documentation that the phrenic nerve and BPI go

hand in hand but do know of many BPI's that have speech

problems and do recall that there is a probable

connection. Hopefully one of our our resident experts

will have documentation, one way or the other.

yes, we have speech problems

I was told that the reason is two-fold.

(1) Children that have surgeries before the age of 3 are more apt to have certain developmental delays

(2) in our case it was low tone (hypotonia) caused by nerve damage

My daughter (5) sees an orthodontist and he believes that some of her articulation issues are related. (How weird that we have an orthodontist who actually knows and has researched BPIs!!!) Her bite is way off on the BPI side, it's like that side of her neck is shortened which then pulls her bite. She also shows a bit of torticollis, which is a newer observation (wasn't an issue when she was an infant. We just took photos at her last visit to start formally monitoring it as related to orthodontia). My daugher also has word recall and sequencing issues that are addressed in speech, which I've always wondered if it was related to oxygen deprivation or head trauma during the birth.

Anyway, this topic has come up before and to my knowledge there is no study that shows a link. From previous responses on this board, however, it does seem common for those kids with the more serious BPI's to also have speech issues.

My daughter is 2 years old and she can't speak the whole sentence yet. Every time I try to have her repeat what I say, she always cut it short. Does it help to see a doctor? Or it is another one which will get better as the time goes by?

What does sequencing issues mean?

Sequencing relates to recalling the correct order of events (time), putting things in order (big, bigger, biggest), figuring out what comes next kind of stuff (like a comes before b, etc). It relates to how we categorize and retrieve information.

My son Josh (now 8) received speech at age 2 and continued till last year at school (grade 2). He had poor muscle control in his mouth--he sometimes drooled because of all the water in his mouth. My son also has an overbite--only on his BPI side.