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For years, parents of a Texas boy thought that it was essentially non-verbal because of a brain aneurysm that he had suffered at the age of 10 days .
Boy Mason Motz, age 6, from Katy, Texas, began attending speech therapy at the age of 1 year. In addition to his speech difficulties, he has been diagnosed with Sotos Syndrome, a disorder that can cause learning disabilities or delayed development, according to the National Institutes of Health.
His parents, Dalan and Meredith Motz, got used to their son's communication.
"He could pronounce the beginning of the word but pronounce the end of the word," said Ms. Motz during an interview. "My husband and I were the only ones who could understand it."
All this changed in April 2017 when Dr. Amy Luedemann-Lazar, a pediatric dentist, performed unrelated procedures on Mason's teeth. She noticed that his linguistic brake, the strip of cloth under his tongue, was shorter than usual and was attached near the tip of his tongue, preventing him from moving freely.
Dr. Luedemann-Lazar rushed into the waiting room to ask the Motzes if she could detach Mason's tongue with a laser.
After a quick Google search, parents gave him permission to do so. Dr. Luedemann-Lazar completed the procedure in 10 seconds, she said.
After his operation, Mason returned home. He had not eaten all day. Mrs. Motz heard him say, "I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. Can we watch a movie?
"We sit here thinking:" Did he just say that? "Said Mrs. Motz," it sounded like words. "
Prior to the operation, Mason was speaking at a level of one year, "making noise and speaking loudly but not really forming words," Ms. Motz said.
Now, Mason speaks at the level of a 4 year old child. He is expected to join his peers by the age of 13, his mother said.
The Motzes started bringing Mason to KidsTown Dental in Katy because of its program for children with special needs. KidsTown works with children with developmental disabilities and helps them feel comfortable at the dentist without restricting or seducing them.
"The initial meeting was horrible," said Ms Motz. "He was very scared and uncooperative."
Over the course of 18 months, Mason began to relax further in the dentist's chair and Dr. Luedemann-Lazar decided it was time to tackle the various dental problems he was facing. It was then that she realized that Mason had the tongue attached, a condition officially called ankyloglossia.
Kara Larson, a speech therapist and food specialist at Boston Children's Hospital's Children's Hospital, warned that it was possible to "overdiagnose tongue attachment".
But "in an older child who is not progressing in therapy," she said, the operation to correct the problem makes sense.
Mason is pursuing speech-language pathology and Ms. Motz has stated that he "chained three coherent words."
"For a 5 year old, it probably would not be a big deal, but for Mason, it's a big deal."
On Wednesday night, Mrs. Motz enthusiastically showed Mason a video of himself on the news.
"Mom, calm down," he told him clearly.
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