Just wondering what (if any) speech delays you have seen with your "non-eaters". I know that Maeve should be making more sounds than she does (she only says mama and the rest are vowel sounds). We are scheduled to start working w/ someone (I'm not totally clear if she's an OT who also does feeding or a speech therapist) at the end of March. I can't really imagine what she's going to do besides play w/ all those plastic things that don't help (NUK brush, etc.)since she doesn't have any oral sensitivity. Until we get her reflux under control she's never going to feel like eating!
I'm just concerned that she is falling behind w/ her speech. Her older brother (non refluxer-eats like a pig!) was a late talker so that could also be some of it but I'm still worried. Any thoughts from those whose kids already talk would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Megan

Yes, Shae had major speech delays...now at almost four she is doing 5-8 word sentences, but she is still behind, more I think at about a 2 or 2.5 year old. I was concerned at first but have gotten a lot less concerned over the past couple years. As with everything else, she will do it when she is ready. She has seen a speech therapist but it has been very patchy, she is an hour drive away so we would only see her once or twice a month, then she went on maternity leave and it took six months to get a replacement who is now gone as we wait for the original one to come back. I don't attribute any of Shae's speech successes to them, it has all come from her. I taught her sign language from the time she was about 18 months and that helped greatly...she learned that she could communicate and it prompted her to start trying to say things. Plus, it helped with her behavior b/c it gave her a means to express her needs and wants before she was physically able to to orally.

Anyway, that's my two cents...if it's worth that much :lol: !

Hello, My 3 yr old boy is speech-delayed also. Many of the little ones who have reflux - especially un-diagnosed for a long time - have speech delays. Before that can be addressed, the reflux has to be under control for some time. Then the oral-motor problems can be addressed. My son is attending a wonderful day-treatment feeding program and is just starting lateral (side-to-side) movement with his tongue. His reflux is under control (barely) and the lateral movement is key to being able to chew and speak. Prior to this lateral movement, they worked with him on proper tongue placement. He had a "defensive" posture with his tongue. To prevent the spoon from going in his mouth very far, he would open his mouth only a very little and would raise his tongue into a hill so that the spoon would not go in very far. The feeding specialist would have him open his mouth really wide, place the spoon on the very top of the hill and push it down so that it made a valley. This is proper tongue placement and is necessary to learn before advancing to lateral movement. Although these are related to feeding, it also is key to speech - you need to use your tongue properly to be able to speak. They are also doing pressure and massage therapy around his nose and face - his muscles there are held very tightly all the time and need to be more relaxed. This too is common with reflux.

You're very right about therapy working only when the reflux is under control. No amount of therapy is going to help a child who is still in pain. And the talking will come along as feeding skills progress.

It's so encouraging to hear from everyone that speech will eventually come when they're ready. Our little boy (Evan) will turn 2 on Thursday and still just has a few sounds. He's communicating by crying/whining, pointing, facial expression and by doing a few signs. For those of you whose refluxers spoke at a later age, how old were they when they could say a few words? So far we just have dada, and a few other consonant variations of that (ie, baba, gaga), but he seems to forget those from time to time and to need to relearn them. I've been after Evan to say mama or mom for nearly two years. Believe me...The day that he says my name there will be tears of joy! :cry:

Hi again, I know what you mean about the tears of joy when they do actually say a word you've been working on for so long. Just remember that reflux is very painful and they dont talk because they're in pain, dont feel good etc. Its not that they CANT talk, its that they're uncomfortable with it. It will all come in time. Adam has had much progress in the past 2 weeks with the feeding center program, as he learns how to eat and use his tongue, his speech is developing dramatically. Knowing that your little one can get what they want by pointing etc should be a comfort to you - the words will come but the understanding is there so you dont have to worry about cognitive processes!

Thanks for the encouragement, Phyllis! (tears here) Until now, everyone has assumed that Evan just can't talk. It is, to say the least, interesting to hear that these kids don't talk because they're in pain and that it's just too uncomfortable to talk. I'd never thought of it that way, but it makes so much sense and helps me to understand a little more of what my son is experiencing..., so thanks! I am still concerned though about his cognitive process, because he has been delayed in everything, from gross motor, to fine motor, to speech. Has anyone else noticed that their refluxers are delayed in everything? At this point, we're thinking that there is more going on than the reflux. We're still on the forever list for an MRI. We've been told that it's up to the pediatric neurologist as to how soon Evan gets in for the MRI and genetic tests. Believe it or not, doctors actually believe that it doesn't matter how soon we get in, because the diagnosis doesn't really matter. They think that we're already doing everything that we can to help him, but as a parent, I can't help but wonder if there's something else that we could possible be doing...something that we've missed...

Oh my...I can't believe that I actually had the time to write so much. Thanks for listening (or should I say "reading")

Hello again! Your journey of pain is just so similar to mine!! I have to tell you, when I found St josephs and they saw my boy for an eval, I just cried and cried. This is some of what they told me: Imagine how you feel when you're just starting to recover from a stomach virus - queasy, not wanting to move much, not wanting to socialize much, and really protective of your personal space because you dont feel well. Kids with reflux feel like that - ALL the time. So they will have, or seem to have, motor (gross and fine) delay, attention deficit, speech delay, muscle weakness in the trunk and scapula. They dont want to move around alot because it jiggles their stomachs around which makes their pain worse. This leads to gross and fine motor delays because they dont do the activities that other kids do - they dont feel well enough to do these things.

I have to say that my 3 yr old MAY have some neurodevelopmental issues but at this point I really dont think so. Going to St Jo's feeding center we've seen more progress in ALL of his areas of delays in 2 weeks than he's had in almost 2 years of "traditional" therapy!

So my advice is - dont worry! get the reflux under control, then the feeding and then see what you're left with to deal with - If anything!

Man I wish there were a place like St. Joseph's near us--even a couple of hours away. Their approach sounds amazing. At this point, the only traditional therapy that seems to be working is the physio. The speech and the occupational therapy haven't been a very good help up until now, but they certainly can't hurt. We're hoping to get Evan into an ECE program for special needs kids next year, where they'd work on his physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy daily. During snack time, they'd work on the feeding issues, but only in regards to self-feeding, not really dealing with the reflux.

Just to butt in here for a sec with another perspective on the development issues if it's ok. The other thing to remember is that before they are able to talk they may seem farther behind than other kids just b/c of that. When they aren't able to express themselves it's hard to know how much they actually understand. I know that before I started doing the signs with Shae I thought she was going to be in a special needs class for the rest of her life...I mean, the only responses I'd get were the odd 'm' sound and they were few and far between. Then I started teaching her the signs and all of a sudden she was telling me things that I had no idea she knew. Now that her speech is coming so well also I just keep being more amazed each day at how much she knows because she can express it now.

Wonderful points about the development and pain issues corrolation! Pain isn't the only reason refluxers don't talk though, there are connections between the eating and speech. They don't eat orally so don't learn how to move their tongues properly to form the words...as Phyllis was getting at. So part of it is pain, part of it is a physical inability. The important thing to remember is that even if they are unable to at this point, they will be able to eventually whether they eat or not, it just takes work. It's only been in the past six - nine months that Shae has started putting words together and she's almost four. She's able to tell me she loves me now...I swear no sweeter words were ever uttered! She's also not eating anything yet so it's not a requirement for speech (although it does help a lot).