TODAY, MY GRANDSON FINALLY GETS HIS TONGUE CLIPPED!Jun 14 '04 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line BEING TONGUE TIED IS A REAL THING. IT KEEPS THE CHILD FROM SPEAKING CLEARLY. IT IS EASILY FIXED. IF YOUR CHILD HAS A SPEECH PROBLEM, HAVE THE TONGUE EVALUATED! As there is no specific category for tongue clipping, this is where I shall write about it. In my family, my siblings, myself, my son, and his son were all born tongue tied. This just means that the largest salivary gland, under the tongue is not loose enough to allow language to develop in the normal way for the child. Left unclipped, at the salivary gland under the tongue, the child, or adult will speak somewhat as a duck. These children are often teased about their inability to be understood. This is horrible. In my experience, the sooner the tongue is clipped, the better the language develops. Mine was clipped at the age of 3 days, so I did not require speech therapy. My brother, Douglas, did not have his clipped until he was 6 yrs old, and through hard work, he is understandable, but, says some letters wrong. My son needed his tongue clipped at birth, but, I could not find a doctor, 37 yrs ago, who believed it to be necessary. One believed it was an old wive's tale. One believed it would ruin his teeth, as the salivary gland helps keep bacteria from the teeth. Another just shined me on. Yet, when one doctor was removing his tonsils, he just clipped his tongue and told us, afterwards! I was delighted. I think it is important to mention that my son has perfect teeth. He's never had a cavity! When my son's son was born, I could clearly see his tongue was being held down too far. I suggested he get his tongue clipped before going home from the hospital. This hospital didn't believe in tongue clipping. Now, my grandson is three years old, smart, but, no one but myself can understand him at all, when he speaks. In desperation, I called the best ear, nose and throat specialist in this area and asked if he believed in tongue clipping. I left this on his machine. He called me the next morning, and assured me that it was a real thing that needed to be done to many children, as soon as possible. Today, we go to have an appointment with this specialist, who will simply take a pair of scissors and clip his tongue as little as he can, to make it possible for my grandson to 'relearn' to speak. Because he is not understandable when he speaks, he hates pre-school! This is horrible. He will have speech therapy right away, and relearn to speak, as my son did. If you have a child in your family who is not comprehendable when he/she speaks, consider this to be an option to have 'looked at', to have evaluated. No doctor wants to clip a tongue that does not need it. I am paying for the clipping, today, and it is not cheap when you wait so long to have it done. It will cost nearly $300. Mostly, my grandson's self image should rise, enormously with the ability to learn to speak as other children, after the clipping. This is what is so important to me. He is so bright, yet, only I can understand him, so, his abilities are often overlooked. He is shy, as anyone who could not speak the language of the other chldren in pre-school would be. Not all children are born tongue tied, obviously. If you are thinking of a child who speaks so unclearly that you find yourself guessing about what he/she means to say, at an age that should have language developed, consider having the child evaluated by a specialist. You, too, may find that there is nothing wrong with the child, only with the formation of his tongue being connected too far out on that saliva gland. It is a terrible thing to go through life, not being understood. So many children have been deemed 'stupid' or even retarded, because their tongues were never simply clipped.  |
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