United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

OUR SON IS STARTING SPEECH THEARPY. HE HAS TROUBLE WITH ENDING LETTERS. HIS LIP SAGGED A LITTLE AT BIRTH, & I FEEL MAYBE THIS IS CAUSING HIS DELAY? HE ALSO WAS STUCK IN THE BIRTH CANAL. I KNOW MOST OF OUR DOCS SAY NO RELATION BUT, I BET THERE IS. DOES ANYONEKNOW OF MEDICAL PROOF OR OF ANYONE STUDYING THIS TOPIC OF SPEECH DELAY & BRACIAL PLEXUS?

I do not know of any study that has linked any of the secondary issues (the stuff we moms talk about: speech, sensory integration, ears, nails, hypotonia, etc.) to bpi. However, why do SO MANY of our children need speech therapy??

could it be lack of oxygen at birth? I don't see how injury to the brachial plexus could affect speech, but the same mistakes that caused the bpi could also cause other things?

The way it was explained to me was that these injuries are probably secondary to BPI but then again how do we know. My son has sensory issues, boy does he have a whole list of them, and he also has speech issues that were just noticed this year(He is in second grade), however, I must confess 1. I spnet a whole lot of time doing OT and Pt with him 2. I really spoiled him.....3. He is the youngest of four and there was 11,8, and 3 years difference between the kids, they wanted a new brother so bad that when he came and was injured and couldn't do much for himself like hold his bottle etc.....they helped in the spoiling. 4. I put alot aside to get him in for his BPI surgeries and fought to get him his therapy....soooooo....in our case is this BPI related or just related because I pushed these too issues(especially SPEECH, because I thought he talked so cute) to the side? Gayle mom of Brandon 7 1/2 ROBPI !

Our son is 2 1/2 now, and isn't showing any speech deficits. However, when he was a baby and would begin to cry, sometimes his face would grimace, like with a cry, but nothing would come out -- no sound. Then his voice would "kick in", and we'd hear the cry. He did have torticollis, and my theory is that all the nerves and muscles were tight and "mixed up" -- even the vocal chords. I've explained this to medical professionals, but never had any confirmation or conclusion about it. It will be interesting to see as he grows up if there are any speech problems. As of now, he is developing his language and speech as a typical two year old.

I don't know of any medical studies linking speech and bpi. I would love it if some doctor(s) would do this. We have a list as long a I am tall of secondary issues.

Juliana had speech therapy starting at about 18 months. She was silent. And I mean silent. She did not say mama, dada...anything. She said "ugh" when working hard in ot. And she said "vroom" when pushing a toy car. That was it. When she wanted something we just said "oh, are you hungry? how about a cookie" and if she didn't walk away, and she took the cookie, then I figured that was what she wanted. However, I did think back to the other kids and I realized that she should be saying more. She was also very shy (I think that is part of the sensory issues.) and would hide behind me when she met new people. Was it because of the birth? because of two surgeries in 10 months? all that therapy? I don't know and never will. She stayed in speech therapy for a little more than a year and then our therapist left for a different job. Juliana didn't handle change well, and she had vocabulary of about 15 words, so I decided to see if we (as a family) could encourage her speech using the tools that the speech therapist used. She was 3 1/2 before she spoke to us regularly. And 4 1/2 before she spoke to others regularly.

Of course now, at 6, you can't shut her up! And, she has the vocabulary of an 8 or 9 year old.

Someone once described her speech issues as a clogged drain and once it starts dripping...it will come in a rush. Well, it dripped for a long time before the rush. But now we have the rush.

I think she has a funny sound to some of her letters, but the speech therapists in her school say she will out grow them.

She was a nasty drooler, has the softest gag reflex I have ever seen (the dentist is a thrill), and often had to be reminded to close her mouth. Oh, and her teeth are all "off" on the affected side.

So, what does it all add up to? I don't know. Just more to add to the list of questions.

Of course, if we could stop the injuries in the first place, this all would be moot.

good luck (most kids like speech therapy-it's fun!)
claudia

My daughters therapist mentioned that there seems to be a connection between speech and crawling...kids that don't crawl tend to be delayed w/speech and reading. I know that my daughter didn't crawl, obviously due to her injury (she does a version of it now though). But again she isn't at the reading/speaking level (only 17 months) so I don't know how this may or may not affect her.

Joshua had some distinct speech and drooling issues that we believe were directly related to the BPI. Luckily, our PT seemed to discover the major connection and fix it.

It seems the muscles under his neck were very tight. Basically, the muscles that pull your chin to your chest were shortened. This is probably due to the lack of time spent on his tummy, pushing up on both arms to look up (since he couldn't do that for most of the first 18 months). She started stretching his neck in therapy, and I encouraged him to lie on his tummy to watch TV (so he would have to look up and stretch his neck himself). Both of these helped him relax and stretch his neck muscles and get the proper range back. Along with that his drooling decreased significantly (we know this wasn't teething related because he's still working on the last 4 molars same as before) and his speech also took off (which definitely might be just a coincidence).

Next time you stretch your child's arm, check to see how comfortable they are raising their chin up. If the cords of the muscles on the neck "stand out" as you raise their chin, you might consider adding stretching those muscles into your daily routine.

Kate

That is so intersting, how often do you stretch their neck, did your childs lip sag? our son's lip curved down on the injured side. he also drools more than he should, is this also common among bpi kids?