Muscle based oral motor therapy

[Guest guest]

I thought " Janie speaks pretty clearly and doesn't have much tongue

protrusion " , but decided to attend a free workshop sponsored by Sara

Rosenfeld about muscle based oral motor therapy. Wow! I really

learned a lot. I can see (looking more objectively) that Janie does

have more tongue thrust than I realized, still not too bad compared to

the majority of kids I have met w/only DS. I have taken away the sippy

cups I was using to protect the floors & furniture because they cause

her tongue to move forward more to drink. Straws have become the new

dominant means of drinking. All sizes, shapes, & colors! There is so

much more to it than that, and I can't afford a personal evaluation by

the pro's, but plan to get some reading material and supplies that

will help strengthen her jaw, lips, and tongue, all of which are used

for speech. Maybe you all know about this, but being from Washington

where we don't have a lot of innovative therapies, I found this

amazing information. It is really easy to understand how making the

muscles work better improves the clarity of speech. Does anyone have

any experience working with this?

P.