An Owie. Cue cricket noises.
It helps if you open your mouth Honey. Just sayin' |
I'll be the first one to say that his developmental timeline is officially upside down, backwards and turned around. It is disordered, delayed and disorganized. And because of this, we never know what skill he needs to work on so that the next milestone will work out for him.
It has been challenging, and has taken a very long time to get to where we are now with oral motor. There is still a very long road ahead too. Since we are on our own for therapy now we build lots of things into our day that help him with oral motor strength, awareness, coordination, movement, and endurance of the jaw, tongue, lips and cheeks. We say funny words over and over. We use vibrating toothbrushes for sensory awareness, as well as helping desensitize his gag reflex. We practice sticking our tongues out in every different direction, which we all find terribly amusing! We are now attempting to move things around in the mouth using the tongue. I'll be honest with you all here. I find this activity nerve racking- because Owen chokes A LOT. And late last year we lost a very close relative. To choking. I know, things happen beyond our control- and I'm trying my level best to remain calm and continue with all things feeding related.
The Sucker Dance |
Bubble Gum Gumption |
Do you have any ideas for Oral Motor Activities that you do with your own little ones? I'm always looking for more ideas! If you've stopped by to take a peek inside our lives, please feel free to leave a little hello down in the comments!
From the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists
"Occupational therapy is the art and science of enabling engagement in everyday living, through occupation; of enabling people to perform the occupations that foster health and well-being; and of enabling a just and inclusive society so that all people may participate to their potential in the daily occupations of life (Townsend& Polatajko, 2007, p. 372)."