Your tongue is the most important articulator for speech production. During speech, the tongue can make different movements like grooving, tip-elevation and protrusion. The tongue is shorter at birth but as you grow older, the tongue grows thinner at the tip and longer.
A fraenum is a small tissue fold that limits the movements of an organ part. Everyone has a lingual fraenum under the tongue. The terms ‘short fraenum’, ‘toungue tie’ and ‘ankyloglossia’, refer to a restricted lingual fraenum. It occurs due to consolidation of tissue and leads to reduced mobility of the tongue.
A person who is suffering from tongue tie cannot protrude the tongue tip to the maxillary alveolar ridge, or beyond the edges of the lower incisions.
Effects Of Tongue Tie On Speech Development
Tongue tie does not necessarily impair your speech. Many individuals have a normal sounding speech and they tend to compensate well. But few people with tongue tie may have improper articulation. They have a problem with the speed.
Exercises To Improve Speech
You should discuss these exercises with your child’s speech-language pathologist (SLP) before commencing them. The exercises are modified according to your child’s age and requirements by the SLP. You should encourage oral play in your child. Do a selection of the following exercises in any order after the tongue tie surgery.
- Open your mouth. Touch the front teeth with your tongue keeping your mouth open. Try to feel your teeth’s toughness.
- Stretch your tongue up towards your nose and then downwards your chin. Repeat it for 2-3 times.
- Play your own version of Simon Says, Follow The Leader or copy cats incorporating different lip and tongue movements.
- Shut your mouth and poke your tongue in the left cheek to make a lump.
- Repeat it on the other side.
