Babbles and bubble: a case a Cerium carbonicum

First consultation:  January 27, 2012

A mother is worried about her little four-year-old boy because he does not talk at all. “He is not quiet, but just not able to form words. I took him to the doctor because I thought he might be tongue-tied, but that is not the case. He is now referred to a speech therapist and is on a waiting list. He uses his voice but only ‘babbles’, not forming coherent words or sentences at all; just gibberish. He has a strong voice and is a remarkable good singer. He loves to sing and has a good mouth for it.” (He has a really big mouth cavity.) He is the third child of five children (three boys, two girls).

Gerda Waalwijk (GW): How is his hearing?

Mother (M): “His hearing is good.”  

GW: Tell me about his personality?

M: “He keeps very much to himself. He is a happy, content little fellow who likes to play by himself. He loves to play with his cars and has a funny habit of putting his cars all in a line. He can get upset when his siblings interfere in his play. He is extremely intelligent and his eyes ‘soak up’ everything. He seems to learn internally. When he got his bike, he didn’t get on it but observed his brothers. Then, after a while, he got on it and cycled away.”

GW: How does it affect him? How does he communicate?

M: “He can get really frustrated if we don’t understand him. He wants to communicate and he does try. I teach him things even though it is a handicap that he cannot talk, but he learns anyway. He knows his numbers, letters, colours and shapes already since a very young age, but cannot say them. He is good at puzzles, even making 100 piece ones. He has a fantastic memory. He puts his Lego projects together without using the plan. He loves learning and has a good concentration. He loves games like board games.”

GW: Tell me about his birth?

M: “Good. He has always had an extremely big head. Both the G.P. and I thought for a while he had encephalitis. But everything was ok.” He still has a massive skull, (55 cm). He has heavy bones, he is not obese but heavy, right from birth. He started walking late.”

GW: How is his sleep?

M: “He is a very good sleeper; he loves his bed. When tired, he puts himself to bed. He is hot in bed, with lots of perspiration. He drinks a lot, especially cider vinegar with honey. He doesn’t get any juices or soft drinks.”

GW: How about his food?

M: “He loves food, and likes sweet, especially ice cream. He has always been a very tidy eater; he ate with a spoon by himself at age two and didn’t want to be fed.
“He prefers to do things by himself: likes to dress himself or to solve problems himself before accepting help. He is very patient in that area. He can be extremely stubborn.”

Medical history

Generally good health. Hearing good, no ear problems. Had chicken pox. “When sick he is extremely easy. He just sleeps!” Broke his right wrist a year ago after a fall. Has been vaccinated. Is not potty-trained yet.

Family history

Lots of auto-immune diseases in the family on mother’s side (mother, grandmother, great-grandmother) and diabetes on the father’s side (grandfather). Cancer on both sides.

GW: Any Fears?

M: “No noticeable fears. Not a very stressed child at all.”

Analysis

The speech problem, which is the centre of the case, does not seem to be caused by any physical impairment but probably by a slow development of speech faculty. Slowness is also a characteristic symptom in other aspects of the case. He is slow moving (during the consultation, he just sits there and observes me constantly, slowly moving his little car over the floor) and was a late walker, not potty-trained, etc. The slowness, the stubbornness, the need for sleep, the love of food and the stocky, heavy, build of this child with his unusually large head all point towards Calcium carbonicum.

Prescription: Calcium carbonicum 200C, one dose

Follow-up: 24 February 2012

M: “There is no change in the situation. He still doesn’t say a single comprehensible word.” She wonders if he might be autistic.  “It is as if he lives in his own world, as if he cannot get out of it. It is as if his lack of communication isolates him from the rest of the world. It frustrates him. He takes in a lot of information but he cannot share this information with the outside world. I try to teach him how to pronounce words but he becomes terribly frustrated and doesn’t even want to try. It is as if he wants us to understand his language instead of him learning our language.”

When I ask if his speech therapy has already started, the mother says that she is not certain whether speech therapy would be good for her son. She thinks that it might make things worse: “He might withdraw even more into his own world.”

GW: How is he with other people?

M: “Fine, he loves the company of other people and other children around him. He is not really shy, but is inclined to wait for other people to come to him. He can be a bit apprehensive with strangers and keeps his distance.”

GW: How is his digestive system?

M: “Good, he can be quite constipated at times and now that we are potty training him, he tends to hold his stool until I put him in a nappy when we go out or when he goes to bed. He produces huge stools and large quantities of urine. He is a very good drinker.”

During the whole follow-up the boy quietly plays with his toys. I notice that he softly ‘talks’ to his toys and he ‘talks’ as if his toys talk back to him (single person conversation). I ask him a few questions and he answers me reluctantly in his own incomprehensible language.  

Analysis

When the mother said: “It is as if he lives in his own world, as if he cannot get out of it. It is as if his lack of communication isolates him from the rest of the world. It frustrates him,” I realise that the remedy needed may be Cerium (a Lanthanide); people needing this remedy live very much in their own world, their cocoon. His lack of speech prevents him from connecting with the world. He is isolated and that frustrates him. Going back over the consultation notes, I find indeed more confirmation that a Lanthanide, and particularly Cerium, might be the right remedy: he is very independent and highly intelligent. He wants to do everything himself and in his own way. This is a strong indication for a Lanthanide. The family history of auto-immune disease also points to a Lanthanide. Cerium is also recognised in the little boy’s internal learning, his way of observing others, then doing, as with his bicycle. I chose carbonicum because of his build and the fact that he broke an arm despite having such heavy bones.

Prescription: Cerium carbonicum 200, single dose

Follow-up phone call 7 March 2012

Two weeks after the follow-up, I get a phone call: “Hi….I am going in the van… we are going to the zoo.” At this point, his mother takes over and says: “I don’t know where he got that ‘we are going to the zoo’ from, but he has finally started to talk. It started gradually and initially I didn’t notice it because the words were hidden in his ‘own language’ but suddenly, I picked up words like ‘car’ and ‘dad’. It’s very exciting. He is also potty-trained now.”
His father went on a business trip for a week and when he got back, he was amazed at the difference.

Follow-up 13 April 2012

He comes over with his mother and his usual toys; his cars and his cuddle toy. As usual, I ask him how he is and to show me his toys. This time, however, he answers me and tells me the name of his cuddle toy in his own language (ngu-ngu, that’s how it sounded) but says “these are my cars” in plain English. His mother says that he is improving daily, adding new words all the time and forming comprehensible sentences. He still has difficulty saying the names of his siblings and he pronounces words like ‘five’ as ‘fise’. She can now correct him and he tries hard without getting frustrated. He tries to find ways to be able to pronounce words himself by breaking them up. For example he cannot say ‘five’ but solves that by breaking it up into two syllables ‘fi- ve’ when corrected. His mother says: “He is really coming out of his shell and he can express himself a lot better. He is enjoying the fact that we can understand him now. I have cancelled the speech therapy.”

Photo: Shutterstock
Boy in a bubble; Miroslaw Dziadkowiec