Once a kid is more aware of his oral structures, OPT works on stability, strength, endurance, and muscle memory. But, this should be combined with traditional therapy. For example, we need to round our lips in a graded manner for producing a ‘sh’ sound. They should target the movement used in speech production. The activity selection is done carefully. It is done by maximizing all the sensory systems. This helps kids improve their skill levels. It uses a variety of ‘Therapy Tools’ like horns, chewy tube, z-vibe, straws, jaw graders, etc. OPT is a small part of the speech and language program. For example, jaw slide, jaw jut or tongue-jaw discoordination, etc. Before going ahead with OPT, an assessment of oral structures is done thoroughly. For example, PD, CP, dysarthria, autism, fluency and voice disorders, etc. It can be included in plans for various disorders.
OPT is practiced on both adults and children. For example, bring your lips together to say the /p/sound. It helps kids who have difficulty understanding visual-verbal cues. It is an extension of the phonetic placement technique by Van riper. This therapy technique combines visual, auditory, and tactile stimulation to improve speech clarity and feeding. Thus, OPT came into existence and it targets all these aspects. Sara Rosenfeld Johnson (Founder of OPT) felt the need to address this. Endurance and muscle memory help in repeating the movement.Īll these elements impact speech clarity and also lead to feeding issues occasionally. They need stable movement and not be wobbly. Like any other muscle of the body, the muscles of speech also need to build their strength to keep moving.
Strength, stability, endurance, and muscle memory is the third element. 
These kids require tactile cues the most to produce the sounds. Childhood apraxia of speech requires adequate placement and planning of movements. If the placement of the oral structure is right, the sound comes outright. But, remember kids are not doing it on purpose. They also dislike certain textures or tastes. You will often see that they are picky eaters. It is often present in kids with autism, ADHD, Down’s syndrome, and CP. This may lead to hypersensitivity, hyposensitivity, or a mix of both. If the child has a deficit in feeling these structures or has a negative reaction to this feeling.
Awareness of oral structures which is nothing but teeth, lips, tongue, and jaw. Production of speech requires the following elements: These are also in planning the movement and then saying it. What we want to say is coordinated using numerous brain processes. Talking or producing speech sounds is not a simple process, as everyone thinks it is. Hence due to the above reasons, OPT is the need of the hour.īackground regarding Oral placement therapy. It may not stop the progression of the disease. In PD traditional oro motor therapy may be insufficient. These are difficult to treat through the traditional method. Traditional therapy is not sufficient to correct this kind of error. Occasionally, kids do not have any muscle weakness. We often see that a child with /r/ sound distortion takes therapy for 2 years or more. Traditional therapy does not take this into account. Stability of oral muscles, endurance, and gradation. For instance, muscle memory and awareness. It has other elements running in the background. It is difficult to practice oral-motor exercises every day. That is, using touch to show the placement of sound. Often kids require tactile input as well. The client may not just learn by hearing and seeing. Some difficulties with traditional therapy are These work on the movement, range, and strength of the structures. Oro motor exercises are movements of the tongue, jaw, lips, etc. Basically, look at me, hear me, and try to copy me. Articulation therapy along with oro-motor exercises tackle this issue. For example ‘I want mo tood’(I want more food) ‘That tat is dood’ (That cat is good). Distortion, substitution, and omission are some of the errors. Such as Parkinson’s disease, Cerebral palsy, mis-learning, articulation disorder, etc. Adults and children both can have these issues. One of them is the clarity and intelligibility of speech. Speech therapist targets lots of communication issues. The world is moving forward and advancing so, is our field of speech and hearing. Before we jump into it, let’s get some background information. This blog is about what is oral placement therapy? What is the need for OPT? What does OPT entail? Some more queries related to OPT. Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy Pooja Mundada Oral placement therapy Introduction
0 kommentar(er)
