Talk Tools in Speech and Language Therapy. Does anyone have any experience?
Oral motor therapy is based around targeting and training the muscles used for speaking or eating that are impaired or reduced.
‘TalkTools – Oral-Placement Therapy’ (OPT) is an innovative speech and language therapy approach, and is a type of Oral Motor Therapy. TalkTools OPT takes a bottom-up approach as it works on the most basic skills necessary to achieve feeding and oral skills, first through sensory activities to stimulate muscles and then progressing to motor activities. Therapists will then move this on to activities that promote more functional use for feeding and targeting specific movements for speech clarity.
TalkTools OPT is a complex therapy technique with many levels of training and so for best results a trained speech and language therapist should implement it. It is not designed to be used alone and is often used to work on underlying motor and sensory difficulties before other speech or feeding approaches are introduced. It is the speech component in teaching children to talk, which means it does not work towards improving language skills.
TalkTools OPT can be used for anyone who has reduced mobility, agility, precision and endurance of the oral structures that adversely affects feeding and / or speech. This is common in conditions such as;
- Autistic Spectrum Disorders
- Cerebral Palsy
- Traumatic Brian Injury / Stroke
- Dyspraxia / Dysarthria
- Downs Syndrome
A speech and language therapist will assess and then decide upon what therapy goals are most appropriate for their client. Their goals could be one of the following:
- To increase awareness of the oral mechanism (function of the mouth)
- To teach specific movement patterns: e.g. if a child can not make bilabial sounds like ‘b’ talk tools can work on their lip closure.
- To improve feeding skills and nutritional uptake
- To improve speech sound production to maximize intelligibility.
- To normalize oral tactile sensitivity: many children with autism and other disorders can be hyper or hypo sensitive to sensations that can cause feeding issues.
There are lots of tools that can be bought on the website to go along with therapy from straws, bubble machines, vibrators to chewy blocks. However, this can be expensive and you might prefer to just sauce your own resources that can be just as effective. The use of TalkTools OPT is relatively controversial as there is currently limited formal research into its effectiveness. Although this does not mean it doesn’t work but just that there is little research to either prove or disprove its effectiveness. However, there is a huge amount of single client clinical evidence and experience that shows it is successful when used correctly and consistently.
Integrated Treatment Services is a private Speech and Language Therapy service based in Leicestershire and also working across the Midlands, Northern and Southern England and Northern Ireland. It specialises in providing highly-skilled Speech and Language Therapists, but also associates with other therapeutic professionals, including Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Psychologists and Arts Psychotherapists. Among our team at Integrated Treatment Services there are a number of speech and language therapists who are trained in implementing Talktools OPT. We aim to answer any referrals within 1 week of contact and at the first meeting a therapist will assess you child and discuss with you whether Talktools OPT could help your child.
