Speech Affected By Sucking
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| Anne Kelly |
| 11/2/2009 |
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| From pacifiers to baby bottles and even their hands, babies seems to suck on everything. And while as babies it`s okay for them to comfort themselves orally, a new study shows that as little ones age it`s important they kick the habit. A recent study published in the medical journal BMC Pediatrics finds if babies continue their sucking habits for too long, they`re speech may suffer down the road. The pacifier is part of a baby`s development, and if they`re not sucking on that, it`s a bottle, a sippy cup, or their thumbs. They give little ones comfort and in some cases they land them here, with speech therapist Nicole Bichler. "S,Z,L,T,D,N`s, any of the sounds at the front where the tongue tip has to move up," she says. Bichler works with more than three dozens kids at Will-Moore Elementary, and every year she says at least a couple need help forming sounds because they weren`t weaned away from their sucking habits early enough. Bichler has recognized the problem for years, and it was recently affirmed by a study that examined the habits and speech development of nearly 130 children. Researchers found children who sucked their thumb, or a pacifier, past the age of three were three times more likely to develop a speech impediment. Bichler says that`s in part because the constant sucking causes them to develop somewhat of a lazy tongue. "For those of us who have normal patterns, our tongue has movement ability with in our mouth, but when there`s a thumb or pacifier in there, the tongue has very little movement ability. The tongue is not requiring those muscles to develop as they would normally," she says. Pediatric Dentist Bryce Goebel says constant sucking alters the teeth too, causing a bite in which the child can`t fully close their top and bottom teeth together. "To make certain sounds our teeth need to get really close together in the front, and when you can not put your front teeth together because they are wide open and the posterior teeth are hitting way before the anterior teeth have a chance to hit then it`s tough to make certain sounds," says Dr. Goebel. He says speech impediments aren`t only preventable, they`re also treatable, especially if sucking habits stop before a child`s adult teeth grow in. Goebel says it`s easy to break kids from pacifiers and sippy cups. Just take them away from them. If talking to your child about thumb sucking doesn`t work, there are appliances dentists can place in the roofs of their mouths to help cut the habit. |
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