Re: Eating at the front of the mouth? Relatives!

[Guest guest]

Yes! My son has been through the mouth stuffing and gagging period. He has

improved but we still have to consistently remind him to chew and swallow. He

now sometimes will swallow some food in big chunks, which can't be good for his

digestion. He doesn't chew with his back teeth at all. We work on it almost

every day but thus far we've not seen much improvement. Would love to hear any

suggestions for how to help with this.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. May you and your little ones have a joyous and

wonderful holiday.

SF Bay Area

Mom to Jack (2.8 yrs, apraxia, SPD, mild hypotonia) and Jane (8 mo)

>

> I have a question as Thanksgiving is coming up and once again everyone is

going to notice the way my son eats. My apraxic son seems to chew all his food

at the front of his mouth, does that sound familiar to anyone? He did suffer

from reflux as a baby and then later on from gagging. Even now if he is ever

ill or tired he will still gag easily, but its nothing like the problem it used

to be. Has anyone else noticed this? In addition to me worrying about the way

he's eating and wondering if he is even enjoying his food considering most of

the taste buds are at the back of the mouth, I know once again he's going to be

sitting next to me and my husband's relatives who try to teach him how to eat

saying things like " didn't mommy (or daddy) teach you this? " right in front of

everyone including us. I wonder if it's because he's afraid of gagging on his

food. It's taken years of works and tricks his therapist suggested to get his

appetite to where it is now as he used to never want to eat anything. I have

learned so much from this group and I don't know where else to talk to about

this that would even understand. I'm praying before Thanksgiving someone has

suggestions for relatives and the way my son eats his food. Thanks everyone for

any suggestions at all! Kate

>

[Guest guest]

Yes chewing in the front of the mouth is a common problem with kids with apraxia

since oral motor skills are affected. Under the guidance of a trained SLP, chewy

tubes on the back molars, gum, & bite blocks can help. Other ex depend on the

child's needs/skills.

Warmest wishes,

Barbara A , M.S.,CCC-SLP

CEO,

Help Me Speak, LLC

www.helpmespeak.com

2500 Wallington Way

Suite 103

Marriottsville, MD 21104

410-442-9791

Ask me about NutriiVeda!

On Nov 21, 2010, at 2:39 PM, " jenchat101 " <jaydub@...> wrote:

> Yes! My son has been through the mouth stuffing and gagging period. He has

improved but we still have to consistently remind him to chew and swallow. He

now sometimes will swallow some food in big chunks, which can't be good for his

digestion. He doesn't chew with his back teeth at all. We work on it almost

every day but thus far we've not seen much improvement. Would love to hear any

suggestions for how to help with this.

>

> Happy Thanksgiving to all. May you and your little ones have a joyous and

wonderful holiday.

>

>

> SF Bay Area

> Mom to Jack (2.8 yrs, apraxia, SPD, mild hypotonia) and Jane (8 mo)

>

>

> >

> > I have a question as Thanksgiving is coming up and once again everyone is

going to notice the way my son eats. My apraxic son seems to chew all his food

at the front of his mouth, does that sound familiar to anyone? He did suffer

from reflux as a baby and then later on from gagging. Even now if he is ever ill

or tired he will still gag easily, but its nothing like the problem it used to

be. Has anyone else noticed this? In addition to me worrying about the way he's

eating and wondering if he is even enjoying his food considering most of the

taste buds are at the back of the mouth, I know once again he's going to be

sitting next to me and my husband's relatives who try to teach him how to eat

saying things like " didn't mommy (or daddy) teach you this? " right in front of

everyone including us. I wonder if it's because he's afraid of gagging on his

food. It's taken years of works and tricks his therapist suggested to get his

appetite to where it is now as he used to never want to eat anything. I have

learned so much from this group and I don't know where else to talk to about

this that would even understand. I'm praying before Thanksgiving someone has

suggestions for relatives and the way my son eats his food. Thanks everyone for

any suggestions at all! Kate

> >

>

>

[Guest guest]

I agree of course with one of our SLP professionals in this group Barbara

and that was one of my first questions was " does your SLP provide oral motor

therapy as well? " There is a debate amongst the SLPs- ASHA actually I believe.

I don't know all the details other than that it's dumb. In general it was found

by someone or a group that oral motor therapy is not a viable form of speech

therapy or something like that. So yes, a therapist that is clueless about oral

motor therapy will provide " tricks " but if they don't know how to help -you need

to find someone who can provide therapy. I recall some of the therapies the

therapists did with Tanner involved that rubber hosing that they use in fish

tanks- I bought some for my home use with him and we had to get him to sit a

certain way and have him bite down -bite therapy or something. I also recall

using those really thin pretzels that are in a stick. I used to say " bite bite

bite " and that was the goal -to get Tanner to use his back teeth. Don't quote

me on either at this point -would have to check the archives it's been at least

a decade since that type of therapy!

Please find out if your child's therapist knows about oral motor therapy and if

not -my advice is find someone like Barbarba who has a full bag of tricks

to help children with apraxia from touch cue (PROMPT) to oral motor and a bunch

of therapies in between. I'm a huge fan of therapists who don't just use one

method. Why just one method?!!

About family...I noticed that one place for special needs just sent this out-

Helpful tips on handling dinner situations for the child who is a picky eater,

fidgets, has outbursts, sensory issues, is over-stimulated or uses a feeding

tube. http://bit.ly/aySReo

In general however I found it best to get diagnosis from the experts so when a

well meaning relative says something that you believe inappropriate you can say

something like " ____ is going to therapy for that right now and he's doing

great. I'd be happy to share that with you later " or something like that.

Just remember that they do mean well- I went through it too and it does get

better I can tell you that! Happy Thanksgiving!

=====

[Guest guest]

Yes, , you are right, there is plenty of debate about oral motor

exercises. Here's the real scoop: There are structured oral motor/placement

exercises (i.e. Talk Tools structured hierarchies) which are effective and

there are non-speech " oral exercises " which are not effective. The TT

hierarchies are effective since they target the control/grading, stability,

coordination, and dissociation (separation of movement) of the jaw, lips, &

tongue. These oral placement ex (OPE) target skills needed for clear

speech: jaw stability, control, tongue retraction, lip rounding---to name a

few.

The non-speech ones involve ineffective because they involve tongue outside

the mouth-lollipop licking, top lip licking, tongue wagging, tongue circles,

etc. We do NOT talk with our tongue outside our mouth, so WHY would we

exercise our tongue there??? Loff, SLP, has presented many times

that " non-speech oral (motor) exercises " are ineffective. As defined above,

I agree. The problem is that not all SLPs are trained in OPE and not all

SLPs define " oral motor " in the same way. That is one of the goals of the

Oral Motor Institute www.oralmotorinstitute.org This site has wonderful

info on OPE.

So---ask your SLP how she defines OPE. If it is the 2nd definition, then I

would find an SLP who is trained in OPE (Talk Tools, Beckman). Also, I

would follow 's recommendation and make sure that your SLP uses an

eclectic approach-in other words, that she uses many different techniques

adapted to each child-not the other way around.

Email me for further info on or off list. J

Warmest wishes,

Barbara

Barbara A. , M.S., CCC-SLP

CEO/ Help Me Speak, LLC

<http://www.helpmespeak.com/> http://www.helpmespeak.com

(o) 410-442-9791 (f) 410-442-9783

2500 Wallington Way; Suite 103

Marriottsville, MD 21104

Call me with any questions about NutriiVeda!

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of kiddietalk

Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2010 7:54 PM

Subject: [ ] Re: Eating at the front of the mouth?

Relatives!

I agree of course with one of our SLP professionals in this group Barbara

and that was one of my first questions was " does your SLP provide

oral motor therapy as well? " There is a debate amongst the SLPs- ASHA

actually I believe. I don't know all the details other than that it's dumb.

In general it was found by someone or a group that oral motor therapy is not

a viable form of speech therapy or something like that. So yes, a therapist

that is clueless about oral motor therapy will provide " tricks " but if they

don't know how to help -you need to find someone who can provide therapy. I

recall some of the therapies the therapists did with Tanner involved that

rubber hosing that they use in fish tanks- I bought some for my home use

with him and we had to get him to sit a certain way and have him bite down

-bite therapy or something. I also recall using those really thin pretzels

that are in a stick. I used to say " bite bite bite " and that was the goal

-to get Tanner to use his back teeth. Don't quote me on either at this point

-would have to check the archives it's been at least a decade since that

type of therapy!

Please find out if your child's therapist knows about oral motor therapy and

if not -my advice is find someone like Barbarba who has a full bag of

tricks to help children with apraxia from touch cue (PROMPT) to oral motor

and a bunch of therapies in between. I'm a huge fan of therapists who don't

just use one method. Why just one method?!!

About family...I noticed that one place for special needs just sent this

out-

Helpful tips on handling dinner situations for the child who is a picky

eater,

fidgets, has outbursts, sensory issues, is over-stimulated or uses a feeding

tube. http://bit.ly/aySReo

In general however I found it best to get diagnosis from the experts so when

a well meaning relative says something that you believe inappropriate you

can say something like " ____ is going to therapy for that right now and he's

doing great. I'd be happy to share that with you later " or something like

that.

Just remember that they do mean well- I went through it too and it does get

better I can tell you that! Happy Thanksgiving!

=====

[Guest guest]

A kids table would solve that problem of having any adult watch him eat. The

other kids dont care how each other eats.

Maureen

[Guest guest]

ha this is great! Maureen you get the gold star for advice on this one!!

=====

[Guest guest]

I agree Maureen, Kids just don't seem to care or notice the things that adults

do. Have a great holiday! Dawn Falley

>

> A kids table would solve that problem of having any adult watch him eat. The

other kids dont care how each other eats.

> Maureen

>