So here's the latest on Kizzy's speech. We had her evaluated by a different speech therapist in December. This lady took some time to actually listen to our concerns. By the school district's standards, Kizzy still does not qualify for speech therapy, yet. If she tests the same after Feb. 19th (her half birthday) she would fall in the bracket of needing therapy. But an answer to what the root of her struggles might be came just today. I had wondered (mostly to myself) if her very slight tongue tie had anything to do with her unclear speech. Well Kizzy went to the dentist for the first time today. She has no cavaties (hooray!) but the dentist gave me a quick assesment and a very casual statement he made suddenly made everything make SO much sense. Kizzy has a crossbite. You can see it in her sweet little smile. It's not a big deal. Nothing that braces when she's older can't fix. But when the dentist told me about it, I noticed it for the first time and I suddenly got a very clear picture in my head. So I did a little research, found a few articles and medical journal publications and this is what I found: A crossbite is when teeth are not alligned properly. Notice how on one side of Kizzy's smile the lower teeth jut out over the upper teeth. This causes the room inside her mouth cavity to be too crowded for her tongue. She frequently bites the inside of her cheek and her tongue on accident. This is because of her crossbite. And since her tongue is crowded her words are not clear! This is how she literally can pronounce each and every sound in the english language. Her "l"s are more pronounced than some 6 year olds I know. And yet her speech is so slurred. While it's not a solution on helping her clear up her communication, it's a relief to have a WHY.
1 comment:
Those are some cute, cute kids, you two!
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