Refresh Your Memory - Few Therapeutic Techniques for Feeding, Oral-Motor, Reading, Receptive and Expressive Delays

SOS Approach to Feeding

The SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) feeding program was developed by Psychologist, Kay Toomey Ph.D. The SOS is a non-invasive developmental approach to feeding. The SOS focuses on increasing a child's comfort level exploring and learning about the different properties of foods, such as texture, smell, taste, and consistency. The SOS approach allows a child to interact with food in a playful, non-stressful way.

The SOS approach follows a hierarchy of feeding, beginning with the basic ability to tolerate food in the room, in front of him/her, touching and eventually tasting and eating foods.

Parent education and involvement is an important part of this feeding approach. A therapist works directly with the parents while they are watching each feeding session to learn this approach to feeding. Parents learn to identify physical signs and "body language" to identify when the child is overstimulated and to assist with setting up the home program.

For more about the SOS approach to feeding, please visit http://sosapproach-conferences.com

Debra Beckman-Oral Motor Protocol

Beckman Oral Motor Intervention is an assessment and treatment tool used to determine and treat oral motor delays and disorders. This method includes specific interventions that provide assisted movement to activate muscle movements and build oral strength. The focus of these interventions is to increase oral response to pressure and movement, range, strength, variety, and control of the movement of the lips, cheeks, jaw, and tongue. 

For more information on Beckman-Oral Motor, please visit: http://www.beckmanoralmotor.com

The Kaufman Speech Praxis Treatment Approach

This treatment strategy was developed by Nancy Kaufman, M.A. CCC-SLP. The Successive Approximation Method is a proven treatment of children with developmental apraxia of speech. The Kaufman Method teaches sound approximations using a hierarchy. Children are taught word approximations first, to help reinforce their ability to increase motor coordination. Once the basic patterns have been mastered, more complex consonants and syllables are introduced.

For more information on the Kaufman Speech Praxis Treatment Approach, please visit:

http://www.apraxia-kids.org/library/the-successive-approximation-method-of-therapy-for-children-with-apraxia-of-speech/

P.R.O.M.P.T. (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets)

P.R.O.M.P.T. is a tactile-kinesthetic approach that uses touch cues to a patient’s articulators (jaw, tongue, lips) to guide them through targeted words, phrases, or sentences. This helps patients develop motor control while eliminating unnecessary muscle movements (i.e., jaw sliding, inadequate lip rounding, etc.). Therapists use special hand cues (called prompts) to show patients the correct sequence of articulatory movements and to help them achieve the correct sequence of movements independently.

For more information on P.R.O.M.P.T., please visit: http://promptinstitute.com

The Orton-Gillingham Approach

is an approach that can be used with patients who have difficulty with reading, spelling, and writing. This approach teaches the basics of word formation and utilizes the three learning modalities through which people learn - visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Vocabulary, sentence structure, writing and composition and reading comprehension are all taught in a structured, sequential, and cumulative manner.

Students begin by reading and writing letters/sounds in isolation. These letters/sounds are then blended into syllables and words. (Consonants, digraphs, blends, and vowel teams are all introduced in a structured, sequential way.) Students learn new material while also reviewing “old” material until their skills are automatic.

For more information on the Orton-Gillingham approach, please visit: 

https://www.ortonacademy.org/

Tongue Thrust/Myofunctional Therapy

Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder (i.e., "Tongue Thrust") is a disorder of the orofacial muscle complex which includes the mouth, tongue, lips, and facial musculature.

This disorder can :

alter the shape of your mouth

relate to feeding difficulties or aversions

impede alignment of your dental bite

impact developing speech patterns

How to help?

Provide a treatment plan in communication with your dentist or orthodontist which includes weekly exercises to be done at home. Teach the kids how to strengthen their oral muscles and stop the habitual posturing so they can eat, drink, and speak better.

Elimination of this disorder can assist in:

developing proper dental occlusion

providing stability for orthodontic treatment planning and correction

developing healthy breathing patterns

reducing the effects of certain speech disturbances such as "lisping" and difficulty with 'r'

For more information on Tongue Thrust/Myofunctional Therapy go to https://www.iaom.com/

Fast ForWord Program for Reading

Fast ForWord  is a program designed to help people who have difficulty with auditory processing speed, short-term/working memory, sequencing, attention, language, reading, and spelling. Fast ForWord is based on neuroscience research, which states that brains can be trained to “re-wire” as a result of experience and learning. The program finds the student’s processing level and then builds to the auditory processing efficiency required for reading. The program is intensive (5 days/week until completion) and is completed by utilizing interactive computer games.

Reading and language skills strengthened by Fast ForWord include:

Phonemic awareness, Decoding, Spelling, Comprehension, Sound-letter association, Vocabulary, Syntax, Grammatical structures, Passage comprehension, Reading fluency.

For more information on Fast ForWord, please visit: http://www.scilearn.com/products/fast-forword