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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 had when he had 10 days.
Boy Mason Motz, age 6, from Katy, Texas, began attending speech therapy at the age of 1 year. 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 would not say the end of the word," said Motz. "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 her linguistic brake, the strip of cloth under the tongue, was shorter than usual and was attached near the tip of her tongue, preventing her from moving freely.
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. Luedemann-Lazar completed the procedure in 10 seconds, she said.
After his operation, Mason returned home. He had not eaten all day. Motz heard him say, "I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. Can we watch a movie?
"We sit here thinking: did he say that?" Said 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," said Motz.
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 his 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 appointment was horrible," said Motz. "He was very scared and uncooperative."
For 18 months, Mason began to relax more in the dentist's chair and 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 continues speech therapy and Motz says he "brings together 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, Motz enthusiastically showed Mason a video of him.
"Mom, calm down," he told him clearly.
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