Treatment for Nasality--What has worked?

[Guest guest]

The response to the question below was written by a speech therapist who has

treated RSS children. I hopes this gives your therapist a direction.

J

In a message dated 10/22/2004 9:43:10 PM Central Daylight Time, OTTOBIRD9

writes:

Hi All,

A speech therapist has contacted me. She is working with an RSS child

(not sure of the age). She would like to know if there is any type of

therapy effective for treating the hypernasality this child is

exhibiting. She had been told that it was a " learned " behavior. I

wrote her back to explain that some RSS children have physical

characteristics which can cause the extreme nasality.

Anybody out there have any specific therapy regimens that have worked

(or not worked)?

Thanks!

Katy

Nasality can be caused by many things. The first thing is to take the child

to a Good ENT to find out if there are any structural reasons for the

nasality. Many children have short soft palate or even a palate that is

very thin that allows the nasality to become prominent(submucous palate).

Many of the children also have a very small mouth or mouth opening. Again

another factor that can be improved by teaching a child to open their mouth

wider. Many times the problme may be orthodonic. If the overbite is severe

and the molars do not align, the child would not be able to open their mouth

and raise the palate to stop the nasality. Many times a small mouth is

interpreted as the child being lazy or not opening their mouth wide enough,

when it really is a structural or muscle tone problem.

Once you have determine the reason for the nasality then you can find a good

therapy. It may include orthodonture, palate surgery, or just some good

palate exercises.

Judy