has anyones child had throat problems?

[catty]

My son started going to speech therapy in November. One of the first things she said was he has a very deep voice, i thought nothing much of it but at our last appointment she said she had spoken to some doctors and she has made an appointment for him at the hospital. She said the person that wants to see him would be 2 people higher than her so shed like to come too.
Anyway the letter came through and its to see a cleft palate specialist. Im so confused? Surely at age 4 id know if he had that? He does have problems with speech but would it not be obvious??
Also i waited 10 months for the speech therapy appointments but this hospital appointment is onky 2 weeks away which is sooo quick for the NHS.
Anyone have any similar experiances

 

[babyv13]

has the speech therapist written a report or anything yet? what problems does he have with his speech?

 

[catty]

The report she has written doesnt say anything about it, she said he speaks like someone who has had many chest infections or bad asthma.

So he is using the back of his throat when he is talking for 'T' he says 'K' and other letters. I think she called it backing and he basically uses his throat instead of the tip of his tongue

 

[babyv13]

backing is quite 'atypical' and it can point to a physiological abnormality, i'm guessing she'll have referred to a cleft palate specialist so that they can have a proper look to see if there is a physiological issue that's causing it because just your standard SLT doesn't have the tools to properly examine that area. obviously i've never heard your son speak so i'm only guessing this from what you've told me!

has she said anything about him having nasal escape?

have you got a number you can contact to ask more questions? i'm an SLT in scotland too but this is far from my area of expertise.

 

[catty]

I dont no if this is a bit offensive to deaf people but i always think he sounds a bit deaf. He actually knows so many words and is actually funny with what he says but shame alot of the time he is not understood and the funniness is gone when i have to repeat everything for him. Fingers crossed this appointment helps.
The speech therapist was lovely and im so amazed with what she noticed in only a few appointments. Shes been giving us 'homework' and i wouldnt say iv seen any changes yet but at least i feel like im doing something to help!


And the nasal escape she never mentioned that at all but she did say she referred another boy to the same place we are going because he made sounds through his nose.

 

[babyv13]

she probably wants someone to have a look at his vocal folds as well if he has a deep voice, that would usually be ENT but maybe the cleft palate specialist can do that too. it's so hard to comment and give advice when i haven't seen him and don't know much about him and how they do things in your health board, sorry!

it must be a worry getting an appointment through for a cleft palate specialist when it was never mentioned though! there is such a thing as a submucosal cleft that can be hidden in children until they're around your son's age and they have persistent speech problems, but i honestly think she'd have mentioned that if that was what she suspected. i think it sounds like more in depth examination is needed and she's referred on to the right people to do that

if there's a number on the report then i'd phone that and ask! we always encourage parents to phone if they've got any questions. unless of course he's still seeing the therapist then you could just ask her at your next appointment

 

[babyv13]

it takes a while to see any changes even if there isn't any physiological abnormality that's causing it. it would be like someone telling us to say 'th' instead of 's' every time from now on - even if you know that's what you're supposed to do, it still takes a lot of effort to get out of the habit. a lot of the time little kids don't really have much awareness of the errors they're making as well, which makes it even harder!

 

[catty]

You have already eased my worries a bit thank you!
The woman was really nice but i know she is on holiday until the next appointment so dont want to look like a crazy mum phoning and getting panicked.
She did look in his mouth with a torch and i do remember her saying she cant see certain places so it could well just be there wanting a better look.

 

[babyv13]

yeah, there's a massive limit to what we can see even with a torch! specialists can examine in much greater detail

you definitely wouldn't sound like a crazy mum! id panic in the same situation, i don't like the unknown

 

[babyv13]

they have to rule out a physiological abnormality because if he did have one then speech therapy wouldn't be the right treatment until it had been repaired. if they know there's not an underlying cause for him backing then they can crack on with it

 

[Eleanor ace]

DS has a deep voice, it was commented on when his speech was assessed and was mentioned in the referral to ENT and he had to have his throat and chest checked before he could be seen by audiology, although he did have asthma and had had fairly frequent chest infections as a toddler so it might be that more than the deep voice they wanted to check. It hasn't been mentioned since then.
Hopefully all goes well at the appointment, they will be able to bounce a referral back so you see someone else if the cleft palate specialist isn't the right person.

 

[catty]

My son had his appointment and it went really well. They have since gave me a report and it says they were checking for Velar insufficiancy. They checked his throat and up his nose and said everything looked normal.
He had to say some short sentances and the report says he has - stopping, backing and consonant harmony and has an inconsistant realisation of speech sounds. They also said he has a very hoarse voice and have recommended a vocal hygenist course, iv never heard of that before. The ladies were lovely and he did everything that was asked i could have shed a little tear . Anyway she said it could be a long road with the speech therapy but im so glad there checking all areas and seem so helpful.

 

[babyv13]

My son had his appointment and it went really well. They have since gave me a report and it says they were checking for Velar insufficiancy. They checked his throat and up his nose and said everything looked normal.
He had to say some short sentances and the report says he has - stopping, backing and consonant harmony and has an inconsistant realisation of speech sounds. They also said he has a very hoarse voice and have recommended a vocal hygenist course, iv never heard of that before. The ladies were lovely and he did everything that was asked i could have shed a little tear . Anyway she said it could be a long road with the speech therapy but im so glad there checking all areas and seem so helpful.

that's great, glad to hear you've had such a positive experience so far vocal hygiene is just about caring for your voice by having good habits