Oral-Motor / Feeding
Oral-Motor skills development are critical for feeding and speech sound production. Oral-Motor skills are necessary for movement and coordination of the lips, tongue, and jaw. Oral-Motor therapy is incorporated within speech therapy sessions to ensure a child has adequate strength, range of motion, and coordination to articulate specific sounds. Oral-Motor therapy is incorporated into feeding sessions when a child presents with decreased jaw strength for adequate chewing, inadequate tongue-jaw dissociation, reduced lip closure, jaw sliding, reduced tongue movement, and difficulty producing an appropriate suck-swallow pattern while feeding.
Several of our therapists has been trained in Beckman Oral-Motor. Beckman’s approach consists of compensatory handling techniques for the following concerns: tonic bite, tonic bite on a utensil, slow oral transit, tongue thrust, cough, gag and vomit. Trained therapists are able to complete an oral motor protocol, analyze the results, and discuss data tracking. Trained therapists can also provide oral motor interventions to address the deficit areas discovered during baseline assessment.