Mouth Muscle Exercise Recommendations?

tiffanyirene

DD had a speech evaluation at a new therapy group  today and they think that a lot of her speech problems are related to her mouth muscles and want to focus on building the muscles. We are going to take DD to therapy twice a week but this probably won't start for a couple of weeks (waiting on insurance) does anyone have any recommendation on toddler friendly mouth exercises we could do at home? We already do bubbles and the speech therapist who did the evaluation was doing funny faces with her in the mirror so we will be doing that too. Just wanted to get some other ideas to mix it up and make it fun for her. 

thetwinkies&Vivi

In the past DD1 and DD2 did bubbles, mimicking facial expressions/mouth movements in the mirror with us, using chewy tubes, "fishy" lips, tongue lateralization with yogurt applied all around the lips, etc. 

This board has some great variations of bubble blowing and other ideas. 

ETA: I https://www.pinterest.com/arktherapeutic/oral-motor-activities-games/

thetwinkies&Vivi

We also did some tongue exercises and brushing protocols to help with "turn her mouth on." Not sure if that is applicable to your DD's situation.

tiffanyirene

Thanks for this! What do you mean turn her mouth on?

abs05

Our OT gave us some oral motor exceed uses to do last summer. At that point DD couldn't stick out her tongue or move it from side to side. She also drooled a ton so her muscles were weak. We used the z-vibe on her cheeks twice a day, did chewing excercises with chewy tubes, let her have Popsicles (for tongue protrusion practice), and did lots of silly faces. After some practice speech therapy really seemed to click so I think it helped us.

thetwinkies&Vivi

tiffanyirene said:

Thanks for this! What do you mean turn her mouth on?

Basically, a sensory piece component. The therapist explained it like stretching your legs before you run. So we did brushing,vibrations, etc to get her mouth awake and ready for the real work.

taryn30

Blowing pinwheels, blowing solo cups on a table race, blowing cotton balls race, drinking from straw (also something thicker like milkshake). Hope these help!

bogus123

Before we got the z-vibe, we used an electric toothbrush to "wake up" his mouth too. It really seems to help.