As a team of speech and language therapists, we are experiencing some fantastic results for children and adults alike, using the Talk Tools hierarchy approaches.

Many of the children have referred to our team, have experienced some speech sound therapy and possibly some oral – motor therapy. Parents report that they were given activities such as;

• Mr Tonuge
• Blowing bubbles
• Blowing feathers

Most parents report that they had no idea why they were carrying these activities out and for what benefit.

It has also been reported to me, through many speech therapists that they too have little knowledge about how these oral -motor approaches work, if indeed they do work at all!

This is precisely where Talk Tools comes in.

Since 1995 Talk Tools founder; Sara Rosenfiled-Johnson has had to

eradicate any association to her approach Oral – Placement therapy from Oral-Motor therapy.

Talk Tools believes in assimilating the experiences used through oral -motor exercises and feedingto develop speech sound patternsand good oral motor skills. Read more

We have introduced this approach to many families and our clients who have previously experienced more traditional approaches to speech therapy. Usually the first thing parents say are;

“I can’t believe how much he enjoys this approach”

“This is fun and motivating to her”

“He has never been able to blow bubbles in his life – his last speech therapist spent three years trying and he still couldn’t”

“I never thought I’d see the day where she could achieve tidy eating”

Talk Tools follows a methodical hierarchical approach, s it is easy to measure progress and tset the next targets. Parents and clients find the approach so easy to follow that they can undertake activities as homework without tears and without pressure!

We have come to learn that Jaw Grading is one of the most salient features a child requires in order to establish good speech production and good feeding.

Equally if the child doesnt have good feeding skills, it is likely that they will go on to have some poor speech production skills until these are improved.

Therefore you can never start too early. The key aspect to remember when your child is starting to wean is DONT USE A SPOUTED CUP!!!!

This cup, aside from preventing spills on the carpet or in the car, is the most detrimental feeding utensil for your child’s speech.

The cup encourages the young child to use teeth as a stabiliser and to protrude the tongue out of the mouth, down the spout. Both factors are not ones we would encourage in good speech production and the earlier learned patterns take place, the harder they are for the therapist to undo.

Jaw grading can be achieved through various activities within the approach;

• Bite blocks
• Chewy Tube – Jaw exercisers
• Slow feed
• Gum chew
• Z vibe

This is a starting point for many children and indeed adults, because without good jaw grading the client is unable to make isolated movements of the tongue, lips and teeth, all of which are required in feeding and speech. A ‘sh’ requires the lips to protrude, a ‘t’ requires tongue tip elevation (lifting). Tongue tip lateralization (moving the tongue from side to side) is required to clean food off the back molars (teeth).

Many clients will work on a variety of activities at the same time, this prevents the carers and the client, tiring of the exercises. After all motivation is the key to successful therapy.

CLIENT GROUPS WHO HAVE BENEFITED AND WHY?

Adults with acquired conditions:

Talk Tools is the perfect approach to support those adults who have had a stroke or another acquired disorders to re-establish good oral motor skills for speech and feeding. Characteristics of Dysarthria and Dyspraxia can be helped by consistent daily oral motor exercises that are then linked to function – producing speech sounds, managing food and drink more readily.

Children and adults with Cerebral Palsy:

Talk Tools has enabled our therapists to work on speech production and tidier eating for this client group. The most noticeable and immediate change is the reduction in saliva. Many clients after practicing jaw grading, tongue depressors across the lips and straw drinking activities have developed stronger muscles around the lips and therefore are more able to take up a closed mouth position. This alongside raising awareness (of a damp chin) has improved many clients saliva control. Many clients have gone on to drink through straws successfully, encouraging good tongue retraction and lip protrusion. This has enabled better speech production and tidier eating skills too.

Children and adults with Downs Syndrome:

Talk Tools has offered this client group many of the same outcomes as those stated above. The most common concern we hear from this client group is ‘tongue thrusting’. Tongue thrusting is not a ‘normal oral motor pattern’ in latter years. It is not fact that all babies with Downs Syndrome will go on to tongue thrust. In fact no baby needs to develop this oral motor pattern if good early feeding support is in place. Many babies experiencing early feeding difficulties are advised to cut the teat of the bottle and allow for an increased flow, due to concerns re nutrition. This makes for a lazy tongue and therefore the tongue becomes large and bulbous in the mouth. The tongue is less mobile and therefore movement is more restricted, presenting a continued thrusting pattern. Adapting feeding equipment such as a bottle where you control the flow, allows the baby to develop along developmental stages. Continued support about feeding utensils is key; using the honey bear cup, moving on to straw drinking and staying firmly away from a spouted beaker. Using Talk Tools our therapists can support chewing – with the help of the z – vibes and slow feeds, as well as the jaw grading exercises. There are so many tips that Talk Tools provides our therapists which helps us to feel confident in reaching success with you.

Children and adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorders:
Talk Tools has been a great support to children and adults with ASD. The approach is methodical and predictable and this links well to the needs of our clients with ASD. We have made big steps in improving tidy eating with this client group, through development of jaw grading and isolated lip,tongue and jaw movements. We also find the activities are a sensory calmer therefore allowing us to develop good attention and listening an cause and effect, before engaging in more language based activities which can prove demanding on the client.

Speech sound difficulties:

Talk Tools is now the most obvious choice for our therapists when working with children and adults speech sound difficulties. It provides

kinesthetic feedback to the client and also allows us to prompt and recall positions for speech sounds through the use of the tools. This combined with phonological therapy makes for a very thorough and fast remediation pattern.

Booking an Assessment or updating a therapy programme:

We are now running monthly Talk Tools assessment clinics and Programme update sesssions, Book a session online or call us on 0845 838 2921

Please do not hesitate to contact fro a more detailed discussion about the benefits of Talk Tools for a specific client.

Sarah Needham
Director of Integrated Treatment Services
March 2010