ARK's Blog

Question:  I have a student who chews on straws. What items would be the best for him? Hello! We have what we call ‘polytubing straws’ - it's medical grade tubing that comes in 3 foot lengths that you can trim to any length (so you can get several straws out of it). It’s not bite-proof - with strong biting/chewing you could still potentially chew through it. It's really meant m …

Question: I'm very new to all of this oral sensory topic.  I'm trying to understand it better as my 12 year old daughter shows significant signs for the need to chew and always has (I just thought it was teething and a phase).  The one thing I have noticed in my reading about the subject is that autism is connected to it.  Is that always true or are there people out there who ju …

Question:  I am an SLP seeing a 8 year old student with a tongue thrust.  What products would be the best for addressing the tongue thrust?  How long does it usually take for them to affect a change in a child's lingual placement? . Great question.  For tongue thrust therapy, I use the protocol outlined in the book Swallow Right, 2nd edition by Roberta Pierc …

When working on articulation, I often find it best to begin the session with an auditory discrimination activity.  Not only does this help children better hear their own speech, but it also helps them settle into therapy and focus their attention. Auditory discrimination is the ability to tell the difference between correct and incorrect speech sounds.  Some kids struggle with …