I have a 2.7. the girl drools a lot and is very very hard to understand. Daily she soaks through her shirt, blankets, etc. Also, when she sleeps, she wads her blanket up into a small ball and shoves it in her mouth. That makes me really uncomfortable.

The parents have never brought it up and I am not sure if there are things that I can do to help this girl. I did read that blowing bubbles can help, but other than that I am out of ideas.

Also, should I bring this up to the parents? I am surprised that their family doctor has not said anything.

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How long has it been going on? When we took away my sons Binkey he did the same thing, he was also teething at the time. It lasted about a month. I was glad when it was over. I never did find anything to make it better.

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shes been here since august and has been doing it since then.

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Then I'm stumped! Thats too long for teething. Sorry I'm not more help.

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i have a 2yr old boy with the same problem. grandparents have custody and they insist he talks nonstop at home and the drooling doesnt concern them. his speech here is about even with our 14mnth old. soaks his mat and blanket everyday. i mention it in every progress report and keep sending home early intervention info. i think the speech is hearing related as nothing i say gets through until the 5th or 6th time i say it. the drooling just grosses me out. wish i had more for ya

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I have a 4 1/2 year old who drools constantly and can hardly understand a word he says.

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Here's an interesting article to read about excessive drooling accompanied by delayed or difficult to understand speech.

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i wonder if this would offend gma of my little guy? its like a personal checklist for him for the most part

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My niece was an excessive drooler and it was gross. Turned out her tongue was extra long and had to be trained to keep it in her mouth. She's 38 and still walks around with it sticking out(still gross).

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My son (now 21) did this, and eventually got into speech therapy (at 3 1/2). It took a lot of work, but he speaks only slightly "mumbly" now.

I usually start the conversation with "have you noticed..." or "are you concerned about x's drooling at all? " Feel them out. Some parents will say "oh, I'm glad you brought that up", some will say "I'm not worried". If it's their glad, ask if they'd like you to gather some information for them. If it's I'm not worried, say something like "well, I'm a LITTLE concerned, but if you're not, how about we look at it again in x months, and see? "

At this age, a couple month delay isn't going to make a huge difference, but it may give the parent time to adjust to the idea of some help, or they may bring it up with their doctor after thinking about it.

My doctor, when I was concerned at 2, said "oh, his older brother just talks for him, I wouldn't worry". No matter how strongly I denied that was the case (and it didn't happen, ever), he still insisted that it was. Eventually, I called birth-to-3 anyway. My sister (both of us were dcp's) gave me a shove on that, and I was glad later.

You could also say something along those lines. "You know, my friend (that's me) said that she wasn't really concerned, but her sister pushed her for an evaluation. Maybe a family member who doesn't see him every day would be a good resource to bounce it off of?"

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thanks so much ladies. I try so hard with this kid to be able to talk wit her, but no matter how patient I am with her I just can never understand what she is saying. The drool is gross, but I make her wear a bib under her shirt so it does not soak through and the other kids don't laugh at her.

I will do what you said Heidi and see how it goes. This family is pretty cool, so I think they will listen to my concerns.

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FYI...at 2, my son was completely unintelligible. He could say Mama, but it was "nana", and he'd TRY to talk, but it was gobbeldy-gook.

At 4, I could understand roughly 50% of what he said, and strangers almost nothing. It was a bit like listening to someone with an accent; I heard it all the time, so I had an ear for it, but people who didn't know him couldn't understand it at all.

My son's LANGUAGE, on the other hand, was really advanced. First, we never talked baby talk, so both boys knew lots of "big words". But, with D, he would try to say things different ways because we couldn't always understand his pronunciation. Sounds that didn't require closed lips..like N's and D's, were easier than M's and B's, KWIM? So, he'd reword things until we got it. Much later, he used this skill to master "negotiations"

As a Kindergartner, he tested on a 3rd grade level for vocabulary, but still had trouble being understood. We were SO lucky to have a school speech therapist who absolutely loved, loved, loved him. She even got him summer speech therapy, and took him to the zoo on her own time. She also found the best motivator for my son: chocolate milk. He'd sweat tears for chocolate milk...lol.

Don't know why I felt compelled to tell you all this. I'm very proud of him. He is an extremely hard worker, a bit of a social doofus at times, but very smart and adventuresome. He's about to travel the world on the money he saved while in the army. On his list are Europe and Tibet.

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thank you for sharing this with me. this is exactly what we are dealing with. sounds like mush mash talk or whatever it was you called it.

No one can understand the DCK the sister tries to for us, but often she can't either.

Perhaps I will have the courage to say something to them about it today.

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I've had 2 kids like this. One is 3 1/2-I saw her last week, and I still couldn't understand her. My current 2 yo old also drools and has no language. In his case, he has low muscle tone. Does she have eating issues-something like sensitivity to certain textures in her mouth or holding food and now swallowing? Current drooling child has weak muscles and a lack of sensitivity in his mouth. We've worked hard to make him aware of his mouth. He will sometimes eat and not get around to chewing or swallowing the food. He drools all the time. We gently tap his chin and remind him to swallow, and that has helped a lot.

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