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One of the five slownesses. Slowness of children in learning to speak. Children normally begin speaking between the ages of two and three. Failure to begin speaking by the age of four or five is called slowness to speak.

Patterns

Earlier heaven kidney vacuity and disharmony of heart qì, (肾虚 shèn xū) two major causes of slowness to speak, are explained by the heart’s being the sprout of the tongue and the kidney vessel’s connection with the root of the tongue.

Medicinal therapy: When due to insufficiency of kidney qì, treat with Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill (六味地黄丸 liù wèi dì huáng wán) plus acorus (Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma, 石菖蒲 shí chāng pú) and polygala (Polygalae Radix, 远志 yuǎn zhì). When due to insufficiency of heart qì, treat with Heart-Supplementing Elixir (补心丹 bǔ xīn dān).

Spleen-stomach depletion (脾胃亏损 pí wèi kuī sǔn) preventing liquid qì from nourishing the tongue may also be a cause.

Medicinal therapy: Treat with Center-Supplementing Qì-Boosting Decoction (补中益气汤 bǔ zhōng yì qì tāng). In addition, proper attention to speech training should be given, and if there are signs of poor hearing, tests should be performed to identify possible congenital deaf-mutism.

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