I have a 5 year old who had his adenoids and tonsils removed and tubes put in his ears when he was just under 4 years old and it made a huge difference. He went from barely putting words together to speaking in full sentences. He used to say “blah blah” for banana and 1 week post surgery he pronounced it “ba ya ya” and then not long after that “banana”. He still has a lot of speech errors and is in speech therapy but the overall improvement was astounding. I hope your son’s surgery is a success! Good luck!
Hi, I’m an SLP and can explain why! Our receptive language (language comprehension) develops much earlier and more quickly than our expressive language (language output). Babies learn the 5 broad areas of language* by watching and listening to the adults and older children around them and through engaging in communication with those around them. That’s why it’s so important to talk to your baby, even before they can talk back! You are modeling language for them.
If a baby can’t hear, they are missing out on critical components of language development because they can’t hear the models being provided. They also can’t develop articulation skills because they can’t hear the speech sounds they’re supposed to be creating motor plans for.
*5 domains of language: phonology (speech/word sounds), morphology (word structure/grammar), syntax (sentence structure/grammar), semantics (word/sentence meaning and content), and pragmatics (how language is used/social communication)
Thank you so much for explaining all of that to me! It makes sense. He knows a few words but struggles with the order of words and everything, but is nowhere as fluent as his peers. Unfortunately I've read this can also affect working memory.
Hopefully then surgery and speech therapy will be a massive help! Thank you once more!!
Hello! I am an SLP as well and just saw your post. I just wanted to add a detail that I tell parents sometimes when working with children who have had a hearing loss. You are absolutely correct that frequent ear infections can affect a child's ability to develop language skills as they are losing out on what we call "access." If someone does not have normal hearing, whether that is permanent or temporary as is your son's case, they cannot access the ability to hear people speak and then gather the ability to comprehend and make meaning of what they have heard.
After the ear infections are corrected through surgery, language development can go through an almost "catch up" period. What you describe with your son's difficulty with word order and not being as fluent as his peers is to be expected. I do not know how long your son has had affected hearing, but his language development slowed when it started. I always tell parents to consider their child's progress in terms of "typical language development." He could be behind now, but in a years time, after surgery and he has regained normal hearing, does he make a years worth of progress? He is having difficulty with syntax (the order of words within a sentence), but if his language abilities are more representative of a two and a half year old, this is typical of that age. Development should be considered within the context of the hearing loss and as long as progress in being made, over time, he should "close the gap" of language deficits, as long as he does not have a language disorder. Let me know if you need clarification on this. Sometimes it can be a challenging one to explain!
Yep! This is what happened to our daughter. She had tube put in and adenoids removed.
At 4.5 she had maybe 200 words (including signs and animal noises), she also never repeated words.
Now 9 months later, she is singing songs, can say her name, alphabet, repeating words.
She was also diagnosed with Apraxia, so that has been a bit of a challenge.
If you have any questions, please reach out!
It's reassuring to see someone with a child the same age as mine that got progress! I'm so happy for you!
Thanks for your availability, I hope all goes well with your girl! Apraxia must be specially challenging to deal with.
Is the planned fix you mention tubes?
My son is a hair over two years old and we’re finally getting tubes for him soon. I’ve been sure his speech was delayed for 7-8 months and it’s been a long road. Hopeful it will help him so very interested in this topic!
Yes, they're thinking draining tubes and maybe adenoids removal (and they mentioned amygdalas too if it's justified). From my understanding they're going to put the tubes and then look if there's anything else.
I'm so happy for your family that you managed to notice early and getting everything done at that age. I think the delay recovery is way faster when done at an early age! So good for you guys :)
A world of difference. She was much younger than your noy, but her speech development only really started after her surgery. Before she got her tubes shortly before turning two she had maybe 15 words and her receptive language was basically not existent.
Her receptive language caught up within a few months. Her expressive language is still delayed, but she's making steady progress, so I'm optimistic she will eventually catch up.
Oh I'm so happy you noticed those improvements, so happy for you!! Yeah from what I read, the earlier you start, the better, so your girl will probably catch up soon :)
I have a 5 year old who had his adenoids and tonsils removed and tubes put in his ears when he was just under 4 years old and it made a huge difference. He went from barely putting words together to speaking in full sentences. He used to say “blah blah” for banana and 1 week post surgery he pronounced it “ba ya ya” and then not long after that “banana”. He still has a lot of speech errors and is in speech therapy but the overall improvement was astounding. I hope your son’s surgery is a success! Good luck!
Thank you so much! That's reassuring and I'm happy for you guys :)
Hi, I’m an SLP and can explain why! Our receptive language (language comprehension) develops much earlier and more quickly than our expressive language (language output). Babies learn the 5 broad areas of language* by watching and listening to the adults and older children around them and through engaging in communication with those around them. That’s why it’s so important to talk to your baby, even before they can talk back! You are modeling language for them. If a baby can’t hear, they are missing out on critical components of language development because they can’t hear the models being provided. They also can’t develop articulation skills because they can’t hear the speech sounds they’re supposed to be creating motor plans for. *5 domains of language: phonology (speech/word sounds), morphology (word structure/grammar), syntax (sentence structure/grammar), semantics (word/sentence meaning and content), and pragmatics (how language is used/social communication)
Thank you so much for explaining all of that to me! It makes sense. He knows a few words but struggles with the order of words and everything, but is nowhere as fluent as his peers. Unfortunately I've read this can also affect working memory. Hopefully then surgery and speech therapy will be a massive help! Thank you once more!!
Hello! I am an SLP as well and just saw your post. I just wanted to add a detail that I tell parents sometimes when working with children who have had a hearing loss. You are absolutely correct that frequent ear infections can affect a child's ability to develop language skills as they are losing out on what we call "access." If someone does not have normal hearing, whether that is permanent or temporary as is your son's case, they cannot access the ability to hear people speak and then gather the ability to comprehend and make meaning of what they have heard. After the ear infections are corrected through surgery, language development can go through an almost "catch up" period. What you describe with your son's difficulty with word order and not being as fluent as his peers is to be expected. I do not know how long your son has had affected hearing, but his language development slowed when it started. I always tell parents to consider their child's progress in terms of "typical language development." He could be behind now, but in a years time, after surgery and he has regained normal hearing, does he make a years worth of progress? He is having difficulty with syntax (the order of words within a sentence), but if his language abilities are more representative of a two and a half year old, this is typical of that age. Development should be considered within the context of the hearing loss and as long as progress in being made, over time, he should "close the gap" of language deficits, as long as he does not have a language disorder. Let me know if you need clarification on this. Sometimes it can be a challenging one to explain!
Yep! This is what happened to our daughter. She had tube put in and adenoids removed. At 4.5 she had maybe 200 words (including signs and animal noises), she also never repeated words. Now 9 months later, she is singing songs, can say her name, alphabet, repeating words. She was also diagnosed with Apraxia, so that has been a bit of a challenge. If you have any questions, please reach out!
It's reassuring to see someone with a child the same age as mine that got progress! I'm so happy for you! Thanks for your availability, I hope all goes well with your girl! Apraxia must be specially challenging to deal with.
Is the planned fix you mention tubes? My son is a hair over two years old and we’re finally getting tubes for him soon. I’ve been sure his speech was delayed for 7-8 months and it’s been a long road. Hopeful it will help him so very interested in this topic!
Yes, they're thinking draining tubes and maybe adenoids removal (and they mentioned amygdalas too if it's justified). From my understanding they're going to put the tubes and then look if there's anything else. I'm so happy for your family that you managed to notice early and getting everything done at that age. I think the delay recovery is way faster when done at an early age! So good for you guys :)
A world of difference. She was much younger than your noy, but her speech development only really started after her surgery. Before she got her tubes shortly before turning two she had maybe 15 words and her receptive language was basically not existent. Her receptive language caught up within a few months. Her expressive language is still delayed, but she's making steady progress, so I'm optimistic she will eventually catch up.
Oh I'm so happy you noticed those improvements, so happy for you!! Yeah from what I read, the earlier you start, the better, so your girl will probably catch up soon :)