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speech delay b/c of gluten?


izamo12

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izamo12 Newbie

My son was diagnosed with celiac disease at about 1 year and hald. Before he started to get sick, he was blabbering alot of making noise. In the months following the dx he lost alot of weight, became less active, and became unitrested in thing, and rarely made noise or said anything. hes is now 2 and a half and he is just now starting to say more words and attempting to talk more. His gross motor skills are above average, thats what his therapist said. I guess my question is, is it possible that his speech delay is because of him being sick before, would eating gluten affect his speech?


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Ennis-TX Grand Master
34 minutes ago, izamo12 said:

My son was diagnosed with celiac disease at about 1 year and hald. Before he started to get sick, he was blabbering alot of making noise. In the months following the dx he lost alot of weight, became less active, and became unitrested in thing, and rarely made noise or said anything. hes is now 2 and a half and he is just now starting to say more words and attempting to talk more. His gross motor skills are above average, thats what his therapist said. I guess my question is, is it possible that his speech delay is because of him being sick before, would eating gluten affect his speech?

YES, i have gluten atexia with my celiac and it can cause nerve issues and brain issues. I sometimes stumble for words and wording. We have another member I talked to who looses much of their speech ability when glutened. They explain it as they know what they should say but the words do not come to them, like they can identify a object the the name does not connect with it. It is hard to explain unless you have it but that about sums it up.

Eating gluten with celiac disease can cause your antibodies to flare for weeks. Side effects especially the neurological ones can linger for months. If you son has these then yes each glutenening could be setting him back weeks if not months on his ability to try to learn to speech and process words. The disinterest, lack of activity, etc. Sounds like he might get the brain fog that many of us get. Our minds just become foggy and do not work right, sorta dazed out of it.  At his age where he should be learning this core and critical skills being like this for a few days or a week could set him back and he has to try learning again.

Victoria1234 Experienced

Hello, I had a son who was speech delayed so I know how scary it can be. Mine is 19 now and He is never quiet anymore! I can hardly remember those days!

Im trying to understand his story. He was ok before he was diagnosed, but afterwards he stopped making progress towards speech? What changed besides going gluten-free, if anything? Was it immediately afterwards or was it weeks or months afterwards? Because it would make much more sense to have symptoms resolve on a gluten-free diet. Unless he was gluten-free for a good amount of time, and then had accidental gluten, and had a temporary setback like Ennis spoke of. But again, being affected by accidental gluten is something that happens once one is on the gluten-free diet for awhile.

Glad you have a good therapist. We had good luck with all of ours and we were so blessed with his treatment. Took awhile to actually get one as our first ped said it was just a boy thing and he'd outgrow not talking. Luckily we moved and the new ped was on top of things!

 

pschwab Enthusiast

My son was two and a half when diagnosed. We didn't notice any speech issues, but we did see a dramatic increase in vocabulary and grammar about a month after going gluten free. My theory is that he was so focused on how terrible he was feeling physically that he couldn't focus on developing his verbal skills until he started to heal. He's four now and his verbal skills are on or above age level.

ch88 Collaborator

Celiac disease can cause the types of symptoms you mentioned.  A speech delay can also be a sign of autism spectrum disorder even without motor or coordination problems. Pku is another common diet related disorder. i don't have the medical knowledge to know if that is what is going on or not in this case.

  • 1 year later...
Ssarahharas Newbie

I have a 5-year-old son with autism who cannot speak and we go to speech therapy to overcome it. Therapy fees are a bit expensive for us and we are looking for alternatives. We have found an app designed for children with autism called Otsimo | Speech Therapy SLP and they have an app about speech. We started using it and it was really useful. I would like to share the app's site with you http://app.otsimo.org/speech, hopefully it will be useful for you.

  • 11 months later...
Zzmama Newbie

I just wanted to mention that I just found this thread. My daughter was diagnosed today with celiac and off the chart inflammation. She suffers from speech delays. I absolutely believe the two are linked after seeing these comments and a study, “Celiac presenting as autism” which outlines cases of improved speech with diet changes . Thank you to the parents for your encouraging references to your own children’s improvements. 


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    • trents
      How long have you been strictly gluten free? Certainly, it would be good to look into vitamin and mineral deficiencies and supplementation. The B vitamins, magnesium and D3 are all very important to neurological health. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to reverse gluten-induced neurological damage damage if it has gone on for a long time. 
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      Thanks Trents I'm strict with my gluten-free diet now. I just don't feel any better. I'm going to get tested for vitamins and minerals to see if I need some supplements. For sure I got some damage that doctors call Menier's and the only way they treat it is with medicine that does damage my body more than it helps.   
    • Zuma888
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      That’s a really insightful observation about antibody testing and the gluten challenge! You’re absolutely right that antibody levels can remain elevated for months or even years after going gluten-free, especially if there’s ongoing cross-contamination or occasional slip-ups. The immune system doesn’t reset overnight—it can take time for antibodies like tTG-IgA to normalize, which is why many doctors recommend waiting at least 6–12 months of strict gluten-free eating before retesting. For someone who’s been gluten-free for less than two years or hasn’t been meticulous about avoiding cross-contact, there’s absolutely a chance they’d still test positive, since even small amounts of gluten can keep antibodies elevated. This is partly why the gluten challenge (where you eat gluten before testing) exists—it’s designed to provoke a measurable immune response in people who’ve been gluten-free long enough for antibodies to drop. But you raise a great point: the challenge isn’t perfect, and false negatives can happen if the timing or amount of gluten isn’t sufficient to trigger a strong antibody response. This is why diagnosis often combines antibody tests with other tools like genetic testing or endoscopy. Your question highlights just how nuanced celiac testing can be! For people with celiac disease hidden gluten in their diets is the main cause of elevated Tissue Transglutaminase IgA Antibodies (tTG-IgA), but there are other conditions, including cow's milk/casein intolerance, that can also cause this, and here is an article about the other possible causes:      
    • Betsy Crum
      Thank you for your response! I have considered starting a food diary in the past, I suppose this is as good a time as any to start.  
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