S/O spitting

MaxandRuby

How do you teach a child to spit?  In this instance it will be in regards to teeth brushing and spitting out toothpaste and also rinsing out the mouth.

DS2 (4 today!) cannot spit. I have no idea how to teach him nor do I think he understands what exactly he is supposed to do. He has seen me, his father, and his brother do it (again all in the aspect of teeth brushing).  Rinsing out his mouth consists of him swallowing a drink of water.  Because of these two things we only use flourinated toothpaste once per day and it is a very small amount (this routine was brought up by his pediatric dentist).  His teeth are brushed twice per day. 

Not sure what kind of background you would need on him. He has CP, requires max assist for standing and walking, and we are currently working on him using an open cup.  He left side is weaker then his right.  If you need more info on let me know. 

funchicken

With DD1, we started by practicing with just water. I would have her take a sip of water and not swallow it. At first the best she could do was to let it spill back out of her mouth instead of actually spitting, but after we practiced that for a couple of weeks she started to be able to actually spit the water into the sink. She has motor planning problems, so she had trouble drinking from an open cup, too. She's had them both down for a little over a year--we had them as goals on her OT plan.

funchicken

Oh, I forgot to mention--we practiced the open cup in the tub sometimes, too (with cups of drinking water). It helped her keep from getting upset about spilling the water when she was trying to drink it.