NYT Letter to the Editor 12/18/2023
By:
Robyn Merkel-Walsh, MA, CCC-SLP
"Frenectomy can be a life changing procedure when a team of professionals performs a proper task analysis of function, to include a highly trained licensed professional who has the licensed scope of practice to assess and treat oral motor, feeding, swallowing and/or speech sound disorders."
Read Robyn Merkel Walsh's reply to an article in the New York Times titled "Inside the Booming Business of Cutting Babies’ Tongues". Robyn goes into great detail describing the inaccuracies in this article decrying frenectomies and tongue tie release.
No matter how much information there is on a subject, there will always be misinformation. As scholars and professionals, it is our job to call out this misinformation and set the record straight.
The December 18th Article in the New York Times titled "Inside the Booming Business of Cutting Babies’ Tongues" is filled with such misinformation. The attached letter is a thorough dismantling of the author's conclusions, citing lack of proper research or input from subject matter experts. The letter addresses each inaccuracy in detail with documentation, studies, and research.
Anyone who read the referenced New York Times article and is now looking for accurate information on how to treat an infant for tongue tie should read this letter. This letter will dispel the myths created by the article and provide accurate information based on decades of research and scholarship.