The Importance of Supporting Children Who Have Eating Problems
Posted by Debra C. Lowsky, MS, CCC-SLP on 15th Sep 2015
Hello, I am the mother of an almost 12 year old daughter. It has been a struggle ever since she moved from baby food to regular foods to get her to eat fruits or vegetables. Thankfully, she remains healthy so far, but I am concerned about her health long-term with her limited intake of nutritional foods. Mealtimes have always been a battle between trying to get her to try
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Training the Oral Musculature with Lip Bloks
Posted by Debra C. Lowsky, MS, CCC-SLP on 5th Sep 2015
Question: Hi! I have a 2 year old patient (12-14 month old skill level) who has significant tongue protrusion when attempting to drink out of a cup - this is not noted during any other feeding activities. I think it's because she was exclusively bottle-fed for up to 20 months.
I bought some lip blocks and the bear bottle for her to use. She does great with the blue lip
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Assisting Lip Closure
Posted by Debra C. Lowsky, MS, CCC-SLP on 22nd Jul 2015
Just like its namesake, lip closure (also known as lip seal) is the ability to close one's lips. It's important for several different speech/feeding/oral motor skills:
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• Being able to close one's lips around a straw, spoon, a piece of food, etc.
• Being able to pronounce the speech sounds /p/, /b/, and /m/
• Being able to chew food with one's
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Practicing a Rhythmic Chewing Pattern
Posted by Debra C. Lowsky, MS, CCC-SLP on 11th May 2015
Rhythmic chewing is one component of a mature chewing pattern. There's a tempo to the way we chew - it's not sporadic; we don't chew fast then slow then fast again. We chew to a silent yet steady beat in order to properly break down food.
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In the video below, however, this young man has a very sporadic chewing pattern. In fact, he'll
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