PeterPan Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 My ds has verbal apraxia and still gets speech therapy. The orthodontist wants to put a palatal expander in the upper in the fall, and I'm trying to determine how much effect this will have on him and whether we should be planning to continue speech therapy or whether we'll need to pause it. They estimate the expander will be in 6 months. He has a crossbite, and this is a 2nd opinion with an extremely conservative orthodontist. He'd be newly 8 in the fall, so he's right in that 7-9 window where they want to do it. Waiting a few months would make no difference as far as getting his speech therapy done, and it means I have to double drive to appts. My dd is in braces now and we want to do ds' expander now, while dd is going for her appts, to save gas. The head SLP had this sort of bizarre response about kids' responses to the expander varying and to keep going, blah blah. Most of the sounds they are working on require tongue lifts (l, r, etc.). We do some work with lips, which they could do, sure. But I guess I'm just trying to get a feel overall for how significant the effect on speech tends to be and whether, if you had speech therapy going, they kept going or waited or what. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
displace Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 The plate expander will be on for 6 months? I'd probably try to continue SLT but be prepared to stop if DS gets frustrated more than usual or is having more difficulty than before. Or try to shift focus on lip sounds. I'd also consider a change in SLP if the one you're using doesn't have much experience with palate expander treatment wrt SLT. I don't have much experience with palate expanders but is it possible a lot of time will be painful or there will be better results with speech after it's done? If so, I'd consider holding therapy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 12, 2016 Author Share Posted July 12, 2016 He's ahead on tooth loss. They're actually going to wait for two more teeth that are loose to fall out, then put the expander in. They're thinking that way they'll get the best correction for the chance of no braces afterward. So that's the dream, 6 months of expander and a glued in retainer, done till 2nd phase. If not, then 6 months expander plus 6 months braces. I have the ability to do speech therapy at the rate I choose. I do double sessions (2 hours) because we drive so far, and I can do weekly, every other week, or pause. And it matters because I have a disability scholarship and will take whatever I *don't* spend on speech therapy to use for other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyLittleBears Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 (edited) Even after the expander he will have a retainer for 6mos or possibly a year. I'm not sure how this would effect speech therapy. Two of my boys have bottom and top retainers after the expanders. They have been in for over a year. I notice a speech difference with only one of them but he also tends to speak fast, so this might contribute. Orthodontists(at least ours) tends to want to keep retainers in until 12 year molars come in. ETA: these are removable retainers that are in now but they did have the glued in one and both have had the early braces. hths Edited July 12, 2016 by MyLittleBears 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 12, 2016 Author Share Posted July 12, 2016 Hmm, I don't know about how much space the glued in retainer takes up, didn't think about that. I'll have to google for pics. Yes, the dentist said a glued in retainer and then later phase 2 braces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemongoose Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 I have one that had completed speech therapy before the palate expander. His speech was affected while having the expander in, especially at first. It was hard for him to figure out where his tongue should go. He recognized he wasn't able to speak correctly and it did frustrate him. He now has a retainer and he has resumed speaking at the level he was at before the expander without any regression. In think I would probably just pause, especially since you said you have to drive far. I doubt they will be able to do much correction work around such an obstacle and it just seems like it would be a wasted effort/time/gas and frustrating for all involved. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 We did speech with the expander in... he was really hard to understand with the expander!! Our therapist did great with working with the orthodontia. We had a couple of follow on apps after the expander was out and the work he did with the expander definitely all "stuck" and carried through quite well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyLittleBears Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Oh E, I forgot to mention, my boys had trouble eating certain foods (couldn't handle stuff like lettuce) with the glued in expander, so I definitely think it would effect his speech. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 (edited) My ds13 had a palate expander toward the end of speech therapy and continuing after his IEP for speech ended in late 4th gr. My brain is a bit fried right now though I don't recall it impacting his speech. Edited July 14, 2016 by wapiti 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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