Look to your right, now scroll down a bit. TADAH! A new button! I would like to give a huge shout out to Adrienne for creating this for us! It’s time to connect! Its time to advocate! It’s time to spread the word!
Someone, on my last post asked a great question about DS. She said: I know children with DS have therapists to help with their speech. Why does it seem that most of them talk as if they are deaf.(meaning how they sound) Is this one of the many complications of DS, that they cannot form the words properly or is there in fact some difficulties with hearing?
There area couple of reasons why individuals with Down Syndrome have a hard time with speech. One reason is of course hearing. They tend to have very small ear passages and many have hearing problems. The second reason is that they have low muscle tone. We take for granted the muscles in our tongue, cheeks and lips, when those muscles are weak, it makes it very difficult to shape them in the appropriate ways to form specific sounds. And the third hurdle that individuals with DS face when it comes to speech is that they actually often have a different shaped mouth. Some say that it looks like their tongues are too big for their mouths, when in reality, while being related to low muscle tone it is also because they have a much more narrow and high upper palette (the roof of your mouth). Remind me to show you Ella’s mouth, next time I see you and you will see what I mean.
Keep the questions coming! There is just one more day to enter to win, so spread the word!
Enter to win here Just leave a comment or question. And the winner of these fabulous products will be announced on Sunday.
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| This is Ella at 11 months with her Great Grandpa |
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