United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My almost 5yo daughter will be evaluated by a speech pathologist next month. This was actually recommended after working with a PT through Stanford for her BPI. I'm curious if speech problems are ever attributed to the BPI? She was an early talker, has a huge vocab, etc. but others struggle to understand her and she substitutes sounds frequently. She seems to contort her lips a bit when speaking which is why I was curious if its ever related to BPI.

Thanks!

I don't know what others think about it being related to BPI, but my daughter also is in speech therapy since 5 yrs old and has a left BPI.
~Krista~

My daughter was also in Speech Therapy. She didn't speak at all until she was past 3 years old. And then it was minor speech. She started speaking fully in kindergarten.

She is also lobpi...

claudia

Yes, shes an LOBPI as well.

FYI: the left side of the brain is the language side.

does that mean a right bpi would not have speech delay? i am so curious too. i feel there is a connection.

I don't see how being LOBPI could be any more significant to being ROBPI and speech delayed, as OBPI has nothing to do with the brain itself. What I mean is, the problems affecting the nerves do not originate from the brain, it is not a brain injury, rather a peripheral nerve injury or in severe cases central nervous system from the spine, (again not the brain).

But, as always, research would have to be done, and then compared to how many kids get language/speech delays in other populations...

Marieke, 32, LOBPI

I did not see how there would be a connection either unless the child was injured to more than the BPI per say because a small baby's head (brain) would be near the shoulder dystocia, etc. For example, there seem to be children who have other issues such as to the leg which isn't related to the BPI, right? I can't really explain this well. I've been trying to work through it in my head.

I have four children, my youngest being BPI, and something I have noticed, just as a mom, so don't quote me! is that when a child is focused in one area, another area can be behind. For instance, my motor mouth little girl who never stops talking has the hardest time holding her pencil correctly and has to really focus for things of that nature. Another daughter is so busy with all of her fine motor skills that she is not so great at enunciating and may need speech therapy. MAYBE BPI kids are so focused on therapy and such that their verbal skills develop differently. Also, neurologically speaking, if there was low oxygen at birth (as many BPI's are) you never know how that plays into things. Those are just my uneducated thoughts on it!
Jamie
Mother of Titus (6 months LOBPI)

Changing to use the non dominant hand can cause speech problems (among other things) Kath has a good link that explains it. There's lots of data out there from when they used to make kids use their right hand instead of the left back in the bad old days when left handedness was considered not ok. Talking to other injured adults, this seems to be true, before the bpi I was 'normal' in speech, afterwards I was forced to use my non-dominant left hand for everything and I can't get words out as quickly and easily as I used t9o, AND I sometimes spit a bit, I definitely didn't used to. So in my case it's definitely affected me. The injury itself doesn't affect the brain, but some of the after effects of the injury definitely do affect it and have done in my case.
Hope this helps and hope Kath reads this and puts that link up.
Jen NZ