Hi! I am a trained speech-language pathologist, working in Sweden. I have taken part of the video-based course in the OPT-method and have very positive experiences from using the program with my former clients in a children’s rehabilitation center. Now I work with elderly patients, primarily suffering from stroke but also with a wide spectra […]
Ask a Therapist: Feeding after Attending TalkTools’ Feeding Course
Hi Lori, I attended your Feeding Therapy: Sensory Motor Approach 2 day course. It was terrific and I’ve been implementing a lot of what I learned. I’ve seen some progress already. One of my students did such a great job drinking from a straw the other day! What an improvement from the liquid being squeezed into her […]
Ask A Therapist: Straw Drinking Progression
I recently purchased the straw therapy kit for my 17 1/2 month old daughter with Down syndrome. She was breastfed for the first year and we began transitioning to a straw cup around 9-10 months old. I also have kept the tip of the straw short each time. She does not have tongue protrusion and only occasionally […]
Ask A Therapist: Feeding Therapy with Bite Straws
Hi Lori. Without seeing the student, can you tell me if this sounds like accurate application of the Feeding Therapies we learned in your workshop? When using the bite straws with a one year old girl with Down’s, she moves her head to the side to which the straw is presented to instantly suck the applesauce […]
Horns, Whistles, Bite Blocks and Straws by Pam Marshalla
This excellent article by Pam Marshalla, MA, CCC-SLP is posted on the Oral Motor Institute site and discusses how some tools and methods have been categorized as “nonspeach oral motor exercises” (NSOME) but these same tools and methods were used by Van Riper and other pioneers of articulation therapy. Click here to Read PLEASE READ!