Guest guest Posted December 15, 2001 Report Share Posted December 15, 2001 Check out post #5401. Definitely try and make it fun so she doesn't think it is work! > My daughter who is 2.5 years old has been diagnosed with dyspraxia. the > speech path gave me some oral motor activities to do with her like massaging > cheeks, pushing down tongue... > > anyone else doing these sorts of things? do you think they help? how do you > keep child from biting? my daughter is normal in other areas of > development. she doesn't' want me doing all these things to her. I don't' > want to force here plus she is pretty darn strong and I'm 9 months pregnant. > I want her to have a positive attitude about the exercises. I'm supposed to > do like 6 exercises three times a day. > > Roxanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 15, 2001 Report Share Posted December 15, 2001 , your right-this is an excellent post on oral motor therapy from ! For those who are not computer savvy however-I thought I would copy and paste again! " To search the archives go to In your search, I hope you find the answers you are looking for! Best Wishes, Mustafa Khalid ( will be 15 yr. just 2 days! ) Jadd ( 7.6 ) Danya ( 10 ) ( Both my sons are apraxic and doing well ) Oral Motor Exercises: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/speech_language_disorders/41710 Oral motor exercises are occasionally necessary for weak articulators or muscles in the mouth and face for speech production. They sometimes need strengthening, need to move farther and/or have better coordination. These can help a child make speech sounds better as well as help with the eating/feeding/swallowing problems some children have difficulty with. Below are listed some things you can do with any child just for fun to help improve their oral motor skills. These are some of the exercises I have used in therapy and you can usually use them with kids aged three and up. If the child is not too good at following directions you may not want to try these until they can follow simple directions well. They do not even need to be in a speech therapy program either because these are things all children would love to do. 1) Blowing bubbles. This works on working the muscles that make our lips round like for the /w/ sound. It also makes us use better breath control. 2) Licking peanut butter or marshmallow crème with the tongue only (no fingers) after a glob of it has been placed on the roof of the mouth or behind the top front teeth. Works on tongue elevation/lifting and if you put it over in one cheek for example, it works to help lateralize the tongue/move it to the side. 3) Put cheerios or apple jacks on the table and have the child " spear " one with his tongue. No hands or lips can be used. Child has to learn to aim and protrude tongue past the lips. 4) Roll little round suckers like " dum dums " around the mouth back and forth from in one cheek to inside the other using only their tongue. Should be able to see the sucker pushing against the cheek if they did it successfully. Also works on lateralization and coordination of tongue movements. 5) Rub syrup or frosting or peanut butter on outside of lips (red/pink part) so child must lick lips with tongue to clean them off. No hands for this either. 6) Lick ice cream as it drips down the side of the cone on a hot day. Can't use lips- tongue only. 7) Pretend to make faces at one another while you look in the mirror. Make the silliest ones you want. These are a lot of fun and a way to get the family involved in therapy too if your child has been tested and could benefit from some oral motor therapy. If your child has feeding/swallowing /eating difficulties do not try this unless approved by your therapist. Chances are he/she will personally train you in tasks to help them anyway. If your child does not need speech therapy it is just a way to have goofy fun together time. Enjoy! archived: " Books on Oral Motor Stimulation abound but the best source for exercises can be found in the SuperDuper catalogue (1-800-277- 8737). There are several books about oral motor exercises, as well as chew tubes (jaw strengthening and sensory in put for mandibular joint). LinguiSystems (1800-776-4332) has two books " Oral Motor Activities for young children and " Take home Oral Motor Exercises " . ( may need to cut and paste links ) Information on Feeding Disorders: Kennedy Krieger Feeding Disorders Specialists: Bart Sevin, Ph.D. Email: sevin@... http://www.kennedykrieger.org/ S. Gulotta, Ph.D. E-mail: gulotta@... http://www.kennedykrieger.org/ Dr. M. Katz, M.D., M.S.B., F.A.A.P. http://www.kennedykrieger.org/ Kennedy Krieger Institute Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program http://www.kennedykrieger.org/ Feeding Young Children with Special Needs http://www.hs.state.az.us/cfhs/ons/defi-e.htm New Visions: The Development of oral motor skills in children receiving non oral feedings http://www.new-vis.com/ws/p-orlmtr.htm New Visions: Why Evaluate and Treat Mild Feeding Delays and Limitations http://www.new-vis.com/fym/papers/p-feed6.htm New Visions: Feeding and Speech Relationships http://www.new-vis.com/fym/papers/p-feed8.htm Feeding and Related Medical Issues http://members.home.net/dinack/feeding.htm Feeding Disorders Clinic http://www.chob.edu/Clinical_Services/feeding.html Book: The Educator's Guide to Feeding Children with Disabilities CCC-SLP http://www.brookespublishing.com/store/books/lowman-3750/index.htm Nutrition and Feeding for Persons with Special Needs: A Practical Guide and Resource Manual. Nutrition Education and Training Program, South Dakota Department of Education, Child and Adult Nutrition Services, 1992. To order contact: Child and Adult Nutrition Programs; (605) 773-3413. " ===== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 16, 2001 Report Share Posted December 16, 2001 - Dear Roxanne, My son also needs oral motor exercises. He is 2 1/2 and I know how difficult it is to do these things he barely lets me brush his teeth let alone stroke his tonge 15x a day with a nuk brush, LOL!!!! These are tricks that I have done that seem to work. THe key is to get them to do them with feeling like they are being forced to do them. To strengthen muscles we blow feathers cotton balls across the table, we first did it with a straw, now we do it without, you use different muscles without the straw. I let him use the nuk brush on his own and actually likes it. There is this great toy well it is actually a teether, it is a vibrating star, when they bite down on it it vibrates, you can get it at babies r us or toys r us. Whistles of different sizes and a harmonica are all great. A chew tube is good for jaw control and tongue exercise. Your SLP should give you this stuff. If she doesn't ask her where, our SLP gave us a bag of different things. Does it work? Well 9 months ago Jack could not give kisses, Blow bubbles, blow out candles or speak, He now can do all of those things and is my little parrot. His articulation is 100% better and I can understand him about 75% of the time. It helps to have the whole oral moter stuff working to help later with articulation. I hope this helps and answers your ?'s good luck. Sincerely, Eileen mom to Jack, Oral Apraxia, SI and PDD-NOS and 1 -- In @y..., " Roxanne Flick " <rflick@h...> wrote: > My daughter who is 2.5 years old has been diagnosed with dyspraxia. the > speech path gave me some oral motor activities to do with her like massaging > cheeks, pushing down tongue... > > anyone else doing these sorts of things? do you think they help? how do you > keep child from biting? my daughter is normal in other areas of > development. she doesn't' want me doing all these things to her. I don't' > want to force here plus she is pretty darn strong and I'm 9 months pregnant. > I want her to have a positive attitude about the exercises. I'm supposed to > do like 6 exercises three times a day. > > Roxanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 17, 2001 Report Share Posted December 17, 2001 Roxanne, My son, , also needed oral motor exercises and was tough to work with. I didn't read all the responses, so apologies if this is redundant. We changed the way we do things to incorporate the activities in 's everyday life. When brushing teeth, we brush his tongue, inside of cheeks, etc. We sing silly songs (the tongue on the bus goes up and down [model the action and encourage him to mimic]) to get him to do different things. My husband plays a game with the toothbrush which got to move it from one side to the other with his tongue. loves m & m's, so I would put some applesauce/pudding on a popsicle stick with an 'm' in the middle and he had to lick it off. When singing his nightly songs I stroked his cheeks. etc. We don't have a specific time where he 'works' -- we leave that to school and the therapists. We just do what we can to get the practice in without him feeling put on the spot. Good luck -- I can attest that it's worth the effort. can now blow kisses and blow out candles. He chews food better and makes more/better sounds for speech production. We have a long way to go, but all the work over the past 6 months is paying off! Margaret...'s Mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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