ARK's Blog

Lip closure (also known as lip seal) is the ability to close one's lips around a spoon, straw, cup, etc.  It's also important in order to say certain speech sounds, such as /p/b/m/, and it's a factor in preventing drooling. . . Recently I was working with a 9-year-old child who has Angelman syndrome.  The mother was asking if there was anything she could do to …

Whenever a parent asks me what they can do to improve their child’s oral motor skills, one of my first questions is usually:  Are they drinking from straws yet? Drinking from a straw is a very simple yet effective way of improving one’s oral motor skills.  It works on lip seal, tongue retraction, cheek strength, correct jaw position, suck-swallow-breathe coordination, consecutive sw …

Did you know that there is a right and wrong way to spoon feed?  The wrong spoon feeding procedure involves lifting your hand upward as you remove the spoon from the child’s mouth.  This method scrapes the spoon against the teeth, gums, and/or upper lip to get food off of the spoon. . . Scraping is not the normal, natural way to feed.  And specifically for children with o …

Question:  I was looking at some of the tools and videos on your site.  I have a 9 year old daughter with low tone in her face and some periodic drooling.  I have taken her to various speech therapists in the area for help with this issue and most say to remind her to swallow.  Now she is 9 and still has this issue - reminding her does not seem to help.  The dentist sai …