After six long years, Mason Motz can finally speak for himself – and it’s all because a doctor thought to look under his tongue.
The 6-year-old boy from Katy, Texas was born with Sotos syndrome, a genetic condition that is characterized by delayed motor and mental development, as well as learning disabilities and distinctive facial features.
Additionally, since Mason has never been able to speak, physicians assumed he was nonverbal.
“He’s been in speech therapy since he was a little over 1 year old,” Mason’s mother Meredith told Inside Edition. “Sleeping was always stressful. He would stop breathing. He had trouble eating and swallowing; every single meal we would have to remove something that was choking him. He didn’t get the nutrition he needed. His teeth started having problems.”
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Mason’s life was utterly changed, however, when his mother took him to see Dr. Amy Luedemann-Lazar, a dentist who is familiar with handling special needs children.
While Mason was sedated, the dentist inspected his teeth and found that the boy was actually ‘tongue-tied’ with ankyloglossia, a condition that means his tongue never separated from the floor of his mouth when he was in the womb.
Luedemann-Lazar freed the boy’s tongue with a quick noninvasive surgery in April 2017 and his life has never been the same since.
“It’s like night and day. He doesn’t have choking episodes anymore; he’s eating different types of food,” Meredith said. “He’s behaving much better at school. His behavior was a problem, because he was getting poor quality of sleep at night, he was constantly tired and was not able to express himself. He doesn’t snore anymore. He doesn’t have sleep apnea anymore.”
More importantly, Luedemann-Lazar described Mason as a talkative, enthusiastic kid who feels more like “a whole person” now that he has finally found his voice.
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Be Sure And Share This Inspiring Story With Your Friends – Photo by Meredith Motz
That’s marvellous the problem was spotted and solved for the little guy.
I can’t help but throw a scowl as I wonder what correspondence school quacks had seen the lad in those years before the dentist? “Trouble eatin’? Trouble breathin’? Well, what can ya do? C’ain’t be just lookin’ in the kid’s mouth to see if the plumbin’ is clear.”
I know! What on earth was the speech therapy all about if no one even considered looking into his mouth to determine the underlying problem? I too am glad that he has speech now, but wow — all of that medical attention from various disciplines and no one caught this.