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Understanding Food/Oral Aversions and How to Help(Post)
Mealtime should be one of the easier parts of the day. For some families, it's the hardest one. Maybe your child clamps their mouth shut the second the spoon comes near. Maybe they gag at the sight o ...
How to Practice Vowels & Jaw Heights(Post)Question: Can the bite blocks on the back of the animal tips be used to practice vowels? I usually use the bite blocks on the back of the Animal Tips as a jaw grading exercise for ...
When Kids Think Feeding Utensils Are Food(Post)Question: I work with a child who has Down Syndrome. She is 16 months old. She presents with open mouth posture and tongue thrusting not during feeding. Mom purchased a Z-vibe and I saw your art ...
Thumb Sucking Side Effects + Strategies to Help(Post)Question: I have a client (5-years) who sucks her thumb. She has a lisp and produces most of her consonants while protruding her tongue. I perfectly understand that unless we resolv ...
5 Fun, Playful Oral Motor Exercises for Kids(Post)Evidence tells us that engaging play in therapy yields better outcomes, and oral motor therapy should be no exception! My top priority in therapy is that my patients and I build trust while having pl ...
Oral Defensiveness & Aversions(Post)Oral defensiveness falls into two main categories: HYPOsensitivity and HYPERsensitivity: . • Individuals with hyposensitivities have low oral tone and very little awareness of what's goi ...
The Right and Wrong Way to Spoon Feed(Post)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 ...
Becoming Verbal with Autism(Post)I'm looking for advice. My nephew 5 years old, has Autism and cognitive delays. He doesn't speak at all; he just makes noises like he is "singing" to himself (although not with any spe ...
Tongue Tip Elevation Exercises(Post)Tongue tip elevation is the ability to lift the tip of one's tongue up to the alveolar ridge (the spot just behind the upper front teeth). As a shorthand, we often call this location "on spo ...
Lip Closure & Rounding Exercises(Post)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 ...
DIY "Talk Back" Auditory Feedback Device(Post)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 a ...
Improving a Weak Suck(Post)I am looking for suggestions for our 2-year-old son with epilepsy. He currently functions at a 6 month level. He can eat by mouth (only stage 2 or 3 baby foods), but lacks a suck. He can swallow ...