Could Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy Help With Your Child’s Speech?
What does it look like, and how can you help your child?
Every day, your tongue creates many pounds of pressure behind each swallow. If your tongue isn’t in the correct place at rest or when swallowing, this can cause many long-term problems, including crooked teeth, articulation distortions, breathing problems and muscle weakness.
When you hear orofacial myofunctional therapy, you may think about tongue thrust, swallowing, or orthodontic concerns. Those are important parts of myofunctional therapy—but there is more to it!
The muscles of the tongue, lips, cheeks, and jaw are involved in many things we do every day, including eating, swallowing, breathing, and speaking. When these muscles are weak, poorly coordinated, or not moving correctly, they can sometimes affect speech as well.
For some children with articulation difficulties, looking at how the mouth is functioning can give us another important piece of the puzzle.
What Is Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy?
Orofacial myofunctional therapy focuses on helping the muscles of the mouth and face work together more effectively, specifically for swallowing.
Therapy may address things like:
Tongue strength and movement
Tongue resting posture
Lip strength and coordination
Cheek strength
Swallowing patterns
Oral awareness and coordination
One common concern is tongue thrust, when the tongue moves forward against or between the teeth during swallowing. An unusual tongue resting position can also affect how the tongue moves during speech. (Center for Orofacial Myology; Face Forward OMT)
The goal is to help the mouth develop more efficient and functional movement patterns.
What Does This Have to Do With Articulation?
Think about how many different movements your tongue makes when you talk. It has to move quickly and accurately to different places in your mouth to produce different sounds.
For example, sounds like /t/, /d/, /n/, /l/, /s/, /z/, /sh/, and /r/ require precise tongue movements. Other sounds, such as /p/, /b/, /m/, /f/, and /v/, depend heavily on the lips.
If a child has difficulty controlling or coordinating these muscles, it may be one factor contributing to certain speech sound errors. Many people with myofunctional disorders have tethered oral tissue present, like a tongue tie, which prevents full tongue movement in the correct areas. After strengthening the tongue muscles and working with an experienced dentist to remove those barriers (such as a frenectomy), the next step is training the muscles to produce errored articulation sounds with Myofunctional exercises and traditional speech therapy techniques.
This doesn't mean that every child with an articulation disorder has a myofunctional disorder. Many children simply need traditional speech therapy to learn their sounds. But for some children, there may be an underlying oral-motor or myofunctional concern that is worth looking at.
Signs That May Be Worth Looking Into
You may want to consider an orofacial myofunctional evaluation if your child has speech difficulties along with things such as:
A tongue thrust when swallowing
Tongue resting against or between the teeth
Difficulty moving the tongue in different directions
Difficulty keeping the lips closed at rest
Frequent mouth breathing
Chewing or swallowing difficulties
A history of prolonged thumb, finger, or pacifier use
Orthodontic concerns, such as an open bite
Persistent difficulty with certain tongue-based speech sounds
If you are concerned about some of these, scheduling an evaluation can help determine whether the muscles and movement patterns of the mouth are contributing to the problem.
Speech Therapy + Myofunctional Therapy
Sometimes children benefit from both speech therapy and orofacial myofunctional therapy.
Traditional speech therapy can focus on helping your child produce their speech sounds correctly, while myofunctional therapy can address the way the tongue, lips, and cheeks are moving and functioning, predominantly for swallowing.
The two approaches can work together to help your child's mouth become more coordinated and efficient for both speech and swallowing.
At Copper Mountain Speech Therapy, we look at the whole picture—not just the speech sound your child is having trouble with. If we notice signs of a possible orofacial myofunctional disorder, we can help determine whether Myo therapy may be appropriate, and which other professionals in the field may be needed to help, including dentists, orthodontists, ENT’s, craniosacral therapists, breast-feeding or lactation consulants, or other airway specialists.
If you have questions about your child's speech, swallowing, or tongue posture, contact us to schedule a free consultation.