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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Chewing and Swallowing Issues- 4.5 Yr Old
hgonzalez 06:49 AM 10-18-2013
I have a 4.5 year old DCB who will take a bite of food and chews it for a good 5 minutes before swallowing it. Sometimes he will tell me he is finished and he still have a great deal of food in his mouth. It takes him 3 times as long as everyone else to eat, and it drives me bonkers.
He also has some speech issues (can't say 'l', 'm', 'r's') and pretty severe random 'attentional' issues. I will ask a simple question like 'what did you eat for breakfast today?' and I get 'I yike nuffins', so I repeat the question emphasizing the actual question and he will come up with something totally unrelated 'I had sone candy at Hayoween' or 'I don't know'. I think some of the speech stuff is pretty common, but the chewing has me baffled.
He came here from a daycare situation where he was plugged in to the TV all day. It is almost like he forgets he is eating?
Has anyone experienced this with any of their kiddos?
He also has some speech issues (can't say 'l', 'm', 'r's') and pretty severe random 'attentional' issues. I will ask a simple question like 'what did you eat for breakfast today?' and I get 'I yike nuffins', so I repeat the question emphasizing the actual question and he will come up with something totally unrelated 'I had sone candy at Hayoween' or 'I don't know'. I think some of the speech stuff is pretty common, but the chewing has me baffled.
He came here from a daycare situation where he was plugged in to the TV all day. It is almost like he forgets he is eating?
Has anyone experienced this with any of their kiddos?
Familycare71 06:59 AM 10-18-2013
Could def be a muscle issue- I know a lot of kids with speech have a lack of correct muscle use.
BumbleBee 07:34 AM 10-18-2013
Have a 3 year old dcb similar to this. If you find anything out, let me know.
I did all the leg work to have him evaluated....mom flaked and didn't show up for the appt. Last time it was brought up she said once he gets to school (in 2 years-June birthday) she'll talk to them about it.
Does your dck sometimes put food in his mouth, then take another bite before he's finished the first one? My dcb does that a lot. Has almost choked a few times-I have to be right there while he eats to ensure he doesn't take a bite to soon. The other thing my dcb does is take bites that are way to big, or not take a bite at all & just shove it in his mouth...then he can barely chew & he almost chokes then too.
I now cut his food up in bite size peices but he'll still do the another bite before he's done with the last one.
I did all the leg work to have him evaluated....mom flaked and didn't show up for the appt. Last time it was brought up she said once he gets to school (in 2 years-June birthday) she'll talk to them about it.
Does your dck sometimes put food in his mouth, then take another bite before he's finished the first one? My dcb does that a lot. Has almost choked a few times-I have to be right there while he eats to ensure he doesn't take a bite to soon. The other thing my dcb does is take bites that are way to big, or not take a bite at all & just shove it in his mouth...then he can barely chew & he almost chokes then too.
I now cut his food up in bite size peices but he'll still do the another bite before he's done with the last one.
CedarCreek 07:34 AM 10-18-2013
Originally Posted by Familycare71:
Could def be a muscle issue- I know a lot of kids with speech have a lack of correct muscle use.
Could def be a muscle issue- I know a lot of kids with speech have a lack of correct muscle use.
I would think muscle imbalance as well.
hgonzalez 08:29 AM 10-18-2013
Originally Posted by Trummynme:
Have a 3 year old dcb similar to this. If you find anything out, let me know.
Does your dck sometimes put food in his mouth, then take another bite before he's finished the first one? My dcb does that a lot. Has almost choked a few times-I have to be right there while he eats to ensure he doesn't take a bite to soon. The other thing my dcb does is take bites that are way to big, or not take a bite at all & just shove it in his mouth...then he can barely chew & he almost chokes then too.
Have a 3 year old dcb similar to this. If you find anything out, let me know.
Does your dck sometimes put food in his mouth, then take another bite before he's finished the first one? My dcb does that a lot. Has almost choked a few times-I have to be right there while he eats to ensure he doesn't take a bite to soon. The other thing my dcb does is take bites that are way to big, or not take a bite at all & just shove it in his mouth...then he can barely chew & he almost chokes then too.
YES! YES! YES! He will not have swallowed his last bite and keeps adding food to his mouth. So odd.
cheerfuldom 09:03 AM 10-18-2013
I would say low muscle tone. I had a child just like this. Speech and eating issues. I would refer the parents to an early intervention program. It would be best if these issues are dealt with before kindergarten.
My daughters school only gives kids 15 minutes to eat lunch and they expect A LOT regarding self help skills. He needs to be able to communicate well and focus. I would imagine that some of his issues are possibly leading the parents to baby him and not expect as much from him.....that could be a part of his lack of conversational skills.
My daughters school only gives kids 15 minutes to eat lunch and they expect A LOT regarding self help skills. He needs to be able to communicate well and focus. I would imagine that some of his issues are possibly leading the parents to baby him and not expect as much from him.....that could be a part of his lack of conversational skills.
Jack Sprat 11:43 AM 10-18-2013
I have a 3.5 year old that does this. He also has speech issues. I cut up everything for him. He still shoves it all in at once or at least try's to. Drives me nuts!
dingledine 02:44 PM 10-18-2013
I would suggest the parents take that child to the local school for speech therapy testing.