Speech Therapy

Myofunctional Therapy – This therapy involves an individualized regimen of therapeutic oral and facial muscle exercise to develop a correct swallow pattern and appropriate tongue and lip resting postures. Some signs and symptoms to look for in your child:

• Habitual mouth breathing
• Lips apart at rest or during swallow
• Tongue visibly forward during eating or at rest
• Facial smirk or grimace during swallow, or using lower lip squeeze to seal off the mouth
• Open space where teeth should be in which a tongue comes through during swallow or at rest
• A tongue that comes into a cup when you take a drink
• Golf ball appearance to the chin when swallowing
• Washing food down with copious amounts of water
• Speech difficulties
• Messy eating, excessive drooling, and crumbs frequently in the corners of the mouth
• Loose, flaccid lip tone, or teeth that are visible in the presence of an arched upper lip
• Improperly chewed food yielding frequent stomach and gas pains
• Excessive elongated facial growth
• A head which bobs forward when a swallow completes