For instance, a 13 month old isnt usually capable of blowing bubbles, but a 2 year old is. It is also helpful to remove distractions from your environment. You can also subscribe without commenting. Relax and then repeat 5 times. endobj Your SLP and medical team may modify your exercises as they watch your progress over time. Attended Cross Country Education Course in 2006. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. The exercises may help increase lip strength and mobility over time. CTDRd@eqw3/7Uv'z| 333 0 obj Article by: Michelle Newman & Kaitlin Castiglione, Speech-Language Pathologists. Thanks for reaching out! Place food on a spoon and firmly place the spoon on the back part of the tongue. Sensory feedback always impacts movement and movement provides feedback. Muscle weakness in these areas can make proper swallowing difficult. Have you made observations about what this little one is doing with his lips, cheeks and tongue (for purees, and for solids). endobj Lets go over some fun, simple, cheap ways to target oral motor exercises in the home environment that wont break the bank and will provide an interactive way to work on and improve any weaknesses in a childs oral motor mechanism! 0000002410 00000 n [c>$ Eg/m+6B_MGGBs30"hghbicMd-J?~EF04%Q)jjSo=Y J/mY'R_#(nSHV.Yx=PAw]p_=_a>?iKJp\.8.0o%.2-O!:! ), tone, posture and alignment issues (what you see in the body is what you get in the mouth), sensory system (is this a baby who has modulation, regulation or sensory discrimination issues? Each player takes turns going back and forth trying to score a goal. Pick a number of goals to achieve 10 is an ideal number. Mirrors are a very useful tool for oral motor therapy. Doing these activities with your child and demonstrating is very important, too! The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". This horn is easier to blow and has a wider mouthpiece. Required fields are marked *. Copyright 2012 2021 Your Kids Table | Exclusive Member of Mediavine Family, Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress. 0000002210 00000 n <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents(ScholarWorks at WMU)/Rect[380.9531 650.625 540.0 669.375]/StructParent 3/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> It may take a few weeks to notice an improvement in your swallowing. These are a fun, simple and a quick way to get in a few exercises without your child/client knowing they are even doing work. They can be done while just playing with your child, in the car, bathroom mirror, tub, etc. Let your doctor or therapist know right away. They arent something most of us give much thought to, but they are very important. **Disclaimer: It should be noted that this blog was written during the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes the tongue, lips, cheeks, and jaw. Whoever pushes their cotton ball to the opposite end of the table wins! Tons of oral motor exercises for toddlers and kids that can easily and naturally be used in the home. Rationale: I hope this gets you started! We have encouraged these activities to be completed in the comfort of your own home. You may have bedside swallowing exams. Your email address will not be published. I'm fairly new to feeding, but am having some success with Down's clients (thank you and they thank you :). Lori specializes in dealing with the unique needs of infants, toddlers, pre-schoolers and school-aged children with oral sensory-motor, feeding and oral placement/speech disorders. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents(Health and Physical Education Commons)/Rect[137.2383 246.2406 320.4854 257.9594]/StructParent 7/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> This can improve your nutrition, your overall health, and your quality of life. You may begin with Horn #1 if they have the breath support and skill but also may want to start with the Alex Tub Flute (TalkTools has begun carrying them but you will need to check availability). However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. I am so glad you have been using what you learned in the Down syndrome class with success! <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents( \n h t t p s : / / s c h o l a r w o r k s . Lori is the co-author ofA Sensory Motor Approach to Feeding. I have a 7 months old client who is a breast feeder. Bubbles give instant gratification if blown appropriately by moving their lips to protrude and have enough air support to blow the bubble! Below, Im going to list common signs you might see if your child has either some difficulty coordinating their oral motor skills or underlying weakness. 0000007197 00000 n Some of the best therapy is done and most progress is made when kids feel like they are playing and not working. There are so many fun ways to target strengthening the lips, tongue, cheeks and jaw! m#0?L7pPad4.o7zFt? This is actually pretty easy to do. hb```c``> A2l@q`aq;wpx1lcEu6 J:upab^an9'N9n3OI8um.mi9g}WYccopLWmo({N\?.,Raa237#)|]`X z:OwaVVEGY0yDmL _b9A 40!FCD)Xd`@8Tig{@@l NyZ8%RvY bah`Rdag+m&;2+egma4dca&C9CYA- (D/<=@TgR8H $ *Come learn the 3 Keys to Turn Picky Eating Around in my free workshop! endobj 53 0 obj <> endobj Affiliate links used below. If Micheal hadnt received some additional help with his oral motor skills, he might have continued to struggle to eat. 0000004210 00000 n If you have a problem with later stages of swallowing, your SLP might give you different swallowing exercises. This will let you focus on your exercises and get the most benefit from them. He can drink from a cup without spillingif it only has a tiny amount in it. Of course, Micheals story is just one example of how helpful oral motor exercises can be, and they certainly arent just for babies or toddlers. Relax and then repeat 5 times. U.S. Pat. Try the vibe bite and chew XL head (looks like a yellow chewy tube) if he will not tolerate chewy tubes. Learn how your comment data is processed. Masks are required inside all of our care facilities. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. What couldve happened is a story I see in front of me all the time. So this is very common with most of the children and adults we work with. 0000004425 00000 n There is a program Sara and I wrote several years ago called the Ice Sticks Program that has a technique using a syringe to teach a client to retract the tongue and swallow. For many toddlers though, its nearly impossible to get them to sit and complete exercises. His family would have done their best, guessing what to do at each turn. If you have any discomfort during the exercises, you can stop doing them. D. Give a slight upward sweep of the index finger from the lower jaw to the lower lip. 326 0 obj A speech-language pathologist (SLP) may prescribe specific swallowing exercises to improve your swallowing. Posted by Deborah Grauzam on May 13, 2013. Vibration facilitates a contraction of the muscle, so it may be used in conjunction with a tool to facilitate upper lip mobility for spoon feeding. <>/MediaBox[0 0 612 792]/Parent 314 0 R/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> I understand that using vibration can be used to "wake up" the sensory system, and I believe Ive heard that it can have a temporarily positive effect on low muscle tone. Posted by Deborah Grauzam on August 20, 2013. I hope you can help me. All Best of luck and let me know how your client progresses! And you may have imaging tests, such as a fiberoptic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) test. Add a challenge and everyone uses a straw to blow the cotton ball around/across the table. For example, you may be asked to: Your SLP can tell you how to do each exercise and how often you should practice it. 335 0 obj For tips to help your child learn to drink from a straw, check out this blog post! endobj Need comprehensive materials to review for the NBCOT Exam? And, they helped a lot, combined with other strategies for helping babies learn to eat finger foods. Visit our partner TherapyEd. 0000006468 00000 n He's had lip repair and his palate only has a small hole after surgery (will be fixed at 3). Our past presentations should be available for you to view and may be helpful as well. You should absolutely start working on upper lip mobility and lip rounding with this child! %PDF-1.7 % This movement requires a series of actions from the muscles in these areas. Ebert ,Cary. Once you get mobility, start doing single sip cup drinking. Her goal in addressing feeding and speech challenges is to improve the quality of life for both the children she serves and their families. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Youll know you dont need to do them anymore when theyre able to complete them easily and they are able to chew foods well or their speech has significantly improved. In this case, lip closure exercises may help you keep your food inside your mouth, manipulate your food, and move the material into your pharynx. We look for low muscle tone, how a child coordinates his/her mouth by imitating tongue and lip movements, as well as assessing a childs jaw, lip, tongue strength and range of motion. RU%U|5Fwf>QH>73Y&0. Before we begin, keep a look out for the oral motor exercises downloadable PDFat the end of the post. 323 0 obj Kids that need oral motor exercise are having a hard time using those muscles and they cant see what theyre doing. Some examples are: An SLP may be more likely to prescribe lip closure exercises if he or she thinks you are having trouble with your first phase of swallowing. This can lead to pneumonia and other problems. 332 0 obj His upper lip has no movement for retraction or protrusion, but he does get closure for the /m/ sound. endstream endobj startxref Once you learn about what the oral motor exercises are below, you can either make a list (or print mine out), gather any simple supplies you might need, and have them on the ready. Often you can do them on your own, but you may also work with a health professional to practice these exercises. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Lori Overland, MS, CCC-SLPis a speech and language pathologist with more than 35 years of professional experience. This will allow you to then support the jaw with your non-dominant hand and place the horn between the lips, rather than the teeth (the pre-requisite is that they know to exhale on command). She has received an award from the Connecticut Down Syndrome Association for her work within this population. (2006). Your SLP will tell you what kind of progress to expect. Within a few weeks, Micheal was eating 5-7 new foods, and they werent falling out of his mouth! These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Your email was forwarded to me, and it is an excellent question. Oral Motor Exercises printable link is not working for me either. This may help the ability to swallow. A child with developmental delay has poor oral motor control. Is there any reason thischild could not start using astraw or have more control with a cup with intervention? I sent the printable directly to your email! By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents(wmu-scholarworks@wmich.edu)/Rect[104.5239 72.3516 232.1631 82.8984]/StructParent 9/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> 329 0 obj Also, this is not any sort of diagnosis. I pin them to my Child Development and Picky Eating boards, you can follow along if youd like to keep the ideas coming! 0000016638 00000 n Using food to help facilitate an increase in strength, coordination, and range of motion of the oral motor system is another great motivational way to target these skills! You need to look at this child's medical issues (does this baby have respiratory issues, gut issues, allergies, etc? We Hate Spam and Will Keep Your Email Safe. 0000009849 00000 n Check your email update next week for a new exam question! To facilitate lip closure, the occupational therapist would: Wishlist (0), Posted by Deborah Grauzam on June 06, 2017. ), Try to touch tongue to tip of nose (it doesnt matter if they cant get there, the tongue in that direction is what matters), Experiment with thicker textures like milkshakes and even applesauce to make it more challenging, Hold a small carrot stick or other food in between the teeth without using teeth to hold it steady, Pick a nursery rhyme that your child likes and try humming it together, Blow whistles (easy ones can be used from about 18 months and older), There are a ton of whistles out there, many are very affordable. 330 0 obj Alisha also has 3 boys of her own at home. Vibration is another great addition to oral motor exercises to increase tactile input. Is there an OT who specializes in sensory processing involved? Unless you happen to have a child in feeding or speech therapy, then youve probably not heard the term before. Transitioning Your Baby (or Toddler) to Table Foods. xXnF}W,RW{ADv66 See our full disclosure. Coordinated or not coordinated. When you give a child a squiggly straw the child looks at it as fun and engaging, but in reality it is even more challenging requiring the child to focus on drinking the appropriate amount of fluid at an reasonable rate, labial closure, sucking, the oral musculature as a whole. 0000001386 00000 n To increase verbal output and provide some more lip work, have your child/client say pop, pop, pop when popping the bubbles. 0000000776 00000 n Lori has lectured on sensory-motor feeding disorders across the United States and internationally. To name a few, you can make big smiles, stick out your tongue from side to side and up and down, blow raspberries, fish lips, hold air on your cheeks and pop, etc. The Conquer Your Child's Picky Eating Online Event, how to transition baby and toddlers to table foods, how to teach babies and toddlers to drink from a straw. Find more COVID-19 testing locations on Maryland.gov. Here are some red flags that oral motor skills needs some attention: If your child is in feeding or speech therapy, you may see their therapist practice oral motor exercises for a certain amount of repetitions or over a period of time.