ARK's Blog

All parents want their children to be able to blow out their birthday candles.  While most children pick up this skill naturally, others need a little more help.  Below is the process that I have used over the years.  I hope it works for you as it does for me!  . . 1.  The first step is to establish the concept of blowing air out of your mouth.  Put your h …

Oral motor therapy works on the oral skills necessary for proper speech and feeding development.  These skills include: awareness, strength, coordination, movement, and endurance of the lips, cheeks, tongue, and jaw.  The activities below are an easy way to work on these skills.  Incorporate them into your daily routine whenever you have time.  Practice them on the way to schoo …

Drooling is a normal process during infancy and toddler stages, as tooth eruption causes increased saliva production.  This excess saliva can be difficult for the baby/toddler to manage, and so it may spill out of the mouth.  Past this normal stage, however, drooling can become a social and developmental problem. Before beginning any drooling remediation program, there are many fact …

For infants, learning how to bite and chew is a crucial stage of feeding development.  At approximately 5-6 months of age, babies begin using their fingers and mouths for oral exploration using a bite and release pattern.  The development of biting and chewing continues from this point on, with the baby refining the movements of the jaw, tongue, and lips.  When infants miss a part o …