Question
I am a grandmother, R.N., and do most of the childcare for my 19 mo. old grandson. Both his parents are dentists, one being a Pedodontist. The problem is that my grandson has had a tongue protrusion since birth and it is still quite significant. He had ea
Answer
I am glad to here that your grandson is being followed by an ENT. Your description of the snoring at night, open mouth, and tongue forward resting posture does point to an indication that he may be having difficulty with nasal breathing. I am not sure why the ENT has recommended waiting 4 months before having the adenoids x-rayed. But, yes! I do believe in the value of early intervention! In your grandson's case, an evaluation by a speech language pathologist could be seen as a proactive step to help put the pieces of the puzzle together to determine why it may be that he often holds his mouth open and tongue forward. Even with a 19 month old, a speech language pathologist (SLP) could evaluate the function of the oral facial structures (tongue, lips, cheeks, jaw) during speech production, at rest, and swallowing and determine if they are within normal limits. If needed, an SLP could also provide suggestions to stimulate muscle movement or speech sound production.
Juli Webster, MS, CCC-SLP, COM is Program Manager of Oral Facial Myology and a speech-language pathologist at the Hearing and Speech Institute in Portland, Oregon. Juli is a certified orofacial myologist through the International Association of Orofacial Myology, and a certified member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
