Dummies And ? Language Delay

[happy4]

Hello

 

I am soon to be looking after a little girl who at the age of nearly 2 makes no attempt to say words. I wondered if anyone knows of any research into dummies and language delay. From what I have observed so far she seems to have all her needs met by using signs and gestures.

 

Many thanks for any help you are able to give.

 

Happy 4

[Cait]

I'm convinced there's a link. Children whose mouths are regularly full of a plug of rubber surely can't learn how to move their tongue around to form letters. I'm sure that they also are poor swallowers as the ones in preschool constantly dribble too!

 

there was a leaflet someone posted on here - I'll see if I can find the link

 

 

 

here you are

 

edit to add link

Edited April 18, 2010 by Cait

[Guest Spiral]

Hi there Happy4,

 

It's a tough debate.

 

I know of a close friend who didn't have a dummy, but sucked his thumb. The gap in his teeth is apparent now still (he's 50 and very open about it) and he still sucks his thumb in times of need. I did have to signal to him in a crowded meeting once!

 

He complains of a sore roof of his mouth and his teeth have changed alot over the years - the one plus he always says about dummies is that you can throw them away, that children could be urged to give them up, but your thumb is attached!

 

There are psychological studies conducted on thumb sucking later in life and when you look at these it becomes even more of a concern and is pretty scary stuff.

 

I don't know what the right answer is, but I found this article which is interesting reading;

 

http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/cms/pdf/W...0web%20view.pdf

 

Spiral.

Edited April 18, 2010 by Spiral

[Cait]

apple posted this leaflet a few months back which I have amended slightly, It might be of some use to you. I give it to parents who say they are having problems weaning their child off their dummies

Dummy_facts.pdf

[Guest Spiral]

Thats a really helpful doc Cait,

 

one of my mum's got told off by the health visitor last term for having a dummy, but they didn't give mum any helpful advice on how to wean the little one off of it. also, they scared mum lots about speech development, but her little one could easily talk the hind leg off of a donkey.

 

Love this advice sheet, thanks,

 

Spiral.

[Guest]

My favourite part of that leaflet was "Remember: If your child is awake and happy take the dummy out of their mouth." Many parents would do well to read that one! At the airport over the holidays I saw a child who was obviously about 5 or 6 with a dummy in their mouth, I had to bite my tongue not to say anything!

[Guest]

My daughter- didn't have a dummy. Has amazing language skills- saying 100 words by her first birthday but has been a thumb sucker from the first month and now aged 7 we are having real problems getting her to stop.She quite likes the taste of 'Stop and grow' so not sure what else to try.

 

My son had a dummy ( I was despairing of ever being able to stop breast feeding him each day) . By his second birthday he only had 20 words and now aged 4 he is still a real dribbler but it was easy to get rid of the dummy.

 

A rock and a hard place........

[Guest Spiral]

My friend said he wears a linen glove to stop him thumb sucking! Its a running joke with his partner ...how attractive eh!

 

I think it's a comfort thing - some children have a chewed bit of cloth, or suck on a toy or a label on their clothes, some use their thumb and someone invented the dummy as a response to children with those tendencies.

 

I wonder when the dummy was first invented - I know in Medieval times rattles were made from bone and metal, but does the dummy date back that far?

 

Spiral.

[happy4]

Hi

 

Thanks for the quick response to my request.

 

To Edlee - my 7 year old son is also a thumb sucker. The orthodontist told me to put socks on his hands at night and do a star chart - worked well for a while!!! His speech has never been affected and it is more of a problem since we have tried to stop him doing it. My daughter who is now 14 just dropped it when she was about five - but from the age of 9 - 12 had orthodontic treatment at a huge cost of nearly £4,000. I can see my son needing some treatment if he does not stop soon. Boy I wish I had given him a dummy but made the assumption he would just stop.

 

At the moment I am putting finger bandages on his thumb - we shall see what happens. Failing that there is a company that sells plastic mould things that fit over the fingers or thumb.

 

Happy 4

[louby loo]

My daughter sucked her thumb constantly (and still does aged 26) but has perfect teeth. Drove us mad (still does) but the dentist told us not to worry.

 

teeth fine - but we did have 'little visitors' in her tummy loads of time!!!!!!

 

xxx

[SmileyPR]

Interesting experiences, links and attachments! I have a girl in my class who used a dummy for a long time and now keeps her mouth open with her tongue curled up a bit on the point of her lips. Her parents have also noticed this and how it has affected her speech in certain degree. They have learned from this and have taken away the dummy from her younger brother.

[Guest]

This is a very interesting discussion. We have a number of dummy users in our setting at the moment and were planning to do something about them as it is affecting their speech. These are the three year olds by the way who really can do without them, and I'm gentler on the just started 2 year olds.

 

What really gets me are the parents who walk in and as they are asking staff what the child has done that day are stuffing the dummy in the child's mouth! I've been trying to slow them down and get them to ask the child too what they have been doing but we are planning to do something a bit more proactive to dissuade their use. I have no problems them using them at night but the bedroom is where they should stay for these children anyway.

 

Incidentally my youngest was a thumb sucker but I didn't worry about that as much as the thumb had to come out of his mouth when he wanted to play. My biggest worry was when the skin at the base of his thumb got very chapped as he insisted on sucking it in the pushchair in the middle of winter, and had forced me to chop the thumbs off his gloves to ensure his hands didn't freeze!

[Guest]

And just to be differnt , my daughter had a dummy for a while and was always articulate and fluent in her speech with no problems at all! is now 10, nearly 11. Just goes to show....

[Cait]

Did she have it in for all of her waking hours too, though, until she was about 4 years old?

[Susan]

And just to be differnt , my daughter had a dummy for a while and was always articulate and fluent in her speech with no problems at all! is now 10, nearly 11. Just goes to show....

 

My sons were both the same, kate! It was a bit of a struggle getting rid of the dummy but I was determined they weren't going to be thumb suckers and my dentist thought it good idea as sucking encourages good dentition.

[Guest]

Did she have it in for all of her waking hours too, though, until she was about 4 years old?

 

 

Ah! No..... Can't say she did. Mostly when sad or tired, the latter of which wasn't very often

[Cait]

I was chatting to a parent today who brought her almost two year old in for her preview visit, complete with dummy. I asked Mum how often she had the dummy, "Pretty much all the time, she screams if not" I made some suggestions and talked to her about speech (child has practically none) and she said she thought it was probably time her daughter did without hers - she's 5! sigh