If you have experienced a stroke and struggle to speak clearly, or if anything from health to dentition affects your ability to communicate, you may be on the hunt for a speech therapist! In Englewood NJ, expert speech-language pathologists have many tools, including oral placement therapy. What is this therapy, and how does it work? Read on to find out!
Oral Placement Therapy History and Definition
Oral placement therapy is a special form of speech-language therapy that uses sensory motor tools to help people make the sounds they need to speak. In the past, a similar treatment called “phonetic placement therapy” existed, but today’s speech therapists in Parsippany know that the work is about more than phonetic speech—sometimes, a person needs to train their mouth to move in certain ways! Oral placement therapy helps you to do just that.
Who Benefits from Oral Placement Therapy?
Traditional speech therapy often works on a “watch me, now you do it” approach. Clients are led through steps to correct speech problems, position the tongue correctly, and adjust breathing. Traditional speech therapy uses auditory and visual cues (what you can see and hear) to improve speech. Oral placement therapy, on the other hand, uses sensory motor tools—including physical touch, physical tools, and sensory reminders. It works great for people of all ages, and is especially helpful for those who did not see improvement in speech with traditional speech therapy.
What would the speech therapist ask me to do?
While your course of therapy will be customized for you, here are some examples of tools that NJ speech therapists have used successfully in oral placement therapy. Clients may be instructed on how to blow into a flute or horn to practice getting their mouth into shapes to make the “o” sound, or may use bite blocks to keep their mouth open during other speech activities. The client may be assigned to chew on rubber tubes to strengthen muscles, or may work with strategically placed drinking straws to position the tongue and mouth correctly.
Oral placement therapy is an important addition to your speech therapy! Call Home Rehab Consultants today to set up an appointment to see if oral placement therapy can improve your speech therapy progress!
Home Rehab Consultants is located in Englewood NJ and serves clients from Paramus, Parsippany, Newark, Maywood, Rochelle Park, Paramus, Hackensack, Englewood, Morristown, Mountain Lakes, Cresskill, Montclair, Bloomfield, Elmwood Park, and Ridgewood.
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