At Exemplary Speech Services, our therapists are trained and certified to provide pediatric therapy to address Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders (OMD’s).
OMD’s are “disorders of the muscles and functions of the face and mouth which may affect breastfeeding, facial skeletal growth development, chewing, swallowing, speech, alignment of teeth, temporomandibular joint movement, oral hygiene, stability of orthodontic treatment, facial esthetics, and more.” (Academy of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy)
Simon Says: A Solid Start
Our programming is based on the Simon Says Tiny Tongue Tips programs, which is designed to retrain the muscles of the face and tongue for proper posture within the mouth. The program corrects the swallowing sequence, retrains nasal breathing, and addresses speech sound errors occurring. This program incorporates a variety of exercises that stimulate different muscles associated with a tongue thrust or other problems with the mouth, and targets speech errors in a client-specific way to reflect underlying issues.
Proven to “eliminate tongue thrusts, correct speech articulation errors, improve overall health, and increase the self-confidence of our patients” (Simon Says), myofunctional therapy is also designed to be fun and motivating for children.
With this programming as our foundation, we add in our own holistic style of addressing each child’s unique needs and ensure a close working relationship between parent, therapist and child to optimize a positive experience and client success.
Myofunctional therapy helps children:
Correct persisting speech errors
Retrain nasal breathing and eliminate harmful mouth breathing
Eliminate a tongue thrust which can move teeth or disrupt a safe swallow pattern or impact speech
Help expand the upper palate and airway
Support best outcomes for dental and orthodontic intervention such as braces and expander
Establish healthy resting posture to optimize wellness
Optimize chewing and swallowing abilities
Eliminate unhealthy compensatory muscle movements
Issues with oral habits such as thumb sucking or extended pacifier use? Click here for our 30-Day Elimination Program.
