Hey, I wanted to give you all an update on Ezra’s speech problem. Now I’ve decided to no longer call it a speech delay because actually he has loads of words and can speak in sentences. It’s just the clarity of the words is very unclear. Here is the previous post if you haven’t read it and want to catch up. We were still awaiting a hearing assessment back then which he had at the end of August I think it was. He passed although I’m not convinced it wasn’t a fluke and may ask for him to be retested when he is older. We also got a face to face speech therapy assessment but no actual speech therapy for a very long time. I was given booklets to work with him myself at home. Which I was already trying to do. I was seeing progress in language development but he misses the beginnings from words and he really struggled with b, c, d, g type sounds. I kept in contact and asking for speech therapy.

• 

Ezra was due to start school Jan 2021 but of course Covid put a stop to that and he finally started at the end of February. I was really pleased as I thought this would really help his speech. I had a different SLT now who was linked to the school. Since May she has set up for him to have some one to one sessions with one of the LSA’s that they work with at the school a few times a week. Which is really encouraging.

Now on another note I noticed another potential problem. I had long suspected Ezra had a tongue tie, like his older brother. I recognised the signs from trying to breastfeed and the shape of the tongue. I asked several health professionals when he was a small baby to check for tongue tie and I was told he didn’t have one. I thought otherwise but decided to monitor the situation and see how he managed. Visually it wasn’t as obvious as Isaac’s so maybe functionally it would be better too. I couldn’t breastfeed but he managed bottles ok and weaned to solids with no difficulty so I wasn’t really concerned and forgot about it. Until it started niggling me again in relation to his speech. I started to pay more attention to the movement of his tongue when he spoke and there does appear to be some restriction (to my untrained eye). I also caught some really good pictures showing what I think appears to be a tongue tie.

• 

• 

I asked for the SLT if they were able to assess for tongue tie and they suggested I contact the GP for a referral to ENT for assessment of tongue tie. I took Ezra to the GP and she felt there was no tie as he could poke his tongue out (groan I’ve been here before). She asked me to ask SLT for a supporting letter for referral to ENT. Which I did. The SLT went to school to assess him and stated there was no restriction. Look I love the NHS, but it is no good at managing tongue ties in my experience. I mean of course I could be the crazy tongue tie lady they probably all think I am!

I did a little bit of research and have found a private practitioner in Cardiff that I am going to take him to for assessment and she will also revise the tie (if indeed there is one).

• 

In the meantime we will keep on trying to get his speech clearer at home and with the therapy at school. Most of the time we can understand him really well at home now although we realise that it must be quite difficult for others to understand him. I’ve got to say he’s an amazing child. So patient, for his age, if there is something we don’t understand and he is really good at using other ways to communicate to help us understand him too.

I will update you all after he has seen the tongue tie practitioner.

Love and peace xx