If you have successfully corrected tongue thrust in a dc...

[Jane Elliot]

How did you do it? This is for my 8yo boy. We spent a year in speech therapy and made great progress correcting a lisp. Now he's seeing another therapist recommended by an orthodontist. She's very far away, very expensive, and I'm not convinced her therapy is going to work. If I were thoroughly convinced this was necessary and effective, I wouldn't question the money and time spent, but I'm just not.

[Dmmetler]

Not in a DC, but in me. I have long-standing speech/language disabilities, and had real problems with tongue thrust as well as a few other sounds. A big part of the problem, for me, is that my brain has "autocorrect" built in. I don't "hear" the sound I actually say when I talk, I "hear" what I intended to say.

 

By far, the biggest help was something that I didn't get to do until college, when a grad student working on their thesis had me try a computer program that would show as a graphic (like an oscilloscope, I think) how it looked when she said the word or made the sound, and then compared it to me saying the same word/sound. In being able to SEE the difference between, say, my tongue being just slightly forward and back in position, it was easier for me to correct it and to learn how it felt. I still lose it when I'm tired, but the difference in a year really was more than in about 15 years of prior therapy.

 

I think there are applications for iPads which can do the same thing, so it might be something to look into.

[NotSoObvious]

Yes. My dd did the tongue thrust program last year. It was intense. I mean, way intense!

I think it worked. I'm not convinced that it helped her speech, but it did help her to stop hanging out her tongue, and to chew and swallow properly. In fact, it worked so well that now I notice her sister has the same issue, but on a much smaller scale.

It is 99% a home program. Plus, we didn't go every week. Sometimes it was every two weeks and sometimes every three weeks, depending on what stage of the program we were in.

 

I know an SLP that doesn't believe in the tongue thrust program, but it did enough for my daughter that I can see the benefit. If you are faithful about the daily exercises, you'll see results.

 

Perhaps you can explain the financial hardship it would place on your family and see if the SLP will do more of a home approach. Although, I really did have to learn the exercises from an actual person. I wouldn't have been able to just read something.

[Sharpie]

My ds has tongue thrust. When he had his teeth cleaned last, his dental hygienist told me that he would need to go to an orthodontist who would install a type of guard in his mouth that would correct the problem. Her reference was her niece who had it done and within a couple of weeks was swallowing correctly, etc.

 

My ds is too young yet per the dental hygienist so we haven't pursued this in any way.

 

My ds also has speech therapy and to date, it hasn't been brought up as something that needs to be fixed.

[Jane Elliot]

Yes. My dd did the tongue thrust program last year. It was intense. I mean, way intense!

I think it worked. I'm not convinced that it helped her speech, but it did help her to stop hanging out her tongue, and to chew and swallow properly. In fact, it worked so well that now I notice her sister has the same issue, but on a much smaller scale.

It is 99% a home program. Plus, we didn't go every week. Sometimes it was every two weeks and sometimes every three weeks, depending on what stage of the program we were in.

 

I know an SLP that doesn't believe in the tongue thrust program, but it did enough for my daughter that I can see the benefit. If you are faithful about the daily exercises, you'll see results.

 

Perhaps you can explain the financial hardship it would place on your family and see if the SLP will do more of a home approach. Although, I really did have to learn the exercises from an actual person. I wouldn't have been able to just read something.

 

The SLP has said we can do more of a home approach. We've had two visits and she's charged $530 plus supplies ($100). This seems outrageous to me. Dh is a physician and he doesn't charge that much. It's more the drive though, along with frustrations in trying to schedule at her office, and some of their policies really irritate me. However, I am willing to go to the expense of time and money if it will work. Ds is speaking pretty well thanks to the speech therapy with another therapist, but swallowing is still an issue.

 

We have an older adult son with this. We did orthodontics but didn't manage to get the tongue thrust corrected, so he's stuck with a retainer for the rest of his life. I don't want 8yos having to deal with that.

 

The program she has him on involves swallowing exercises and drinking from straws. Does that sound similar to what you were doing?

 

ETA: I forgot to say thanks for posting. It was encouraging to hear from someone who had success with this.

 

ETA again: One more question, if you don't mind. How old was your dd during the program and do you think her age helped her progress?

Edited January 4, 2012 by Luann in ID

[Jane Elliot]

My ds has tongue thrust. When he had his teeth cleaned last, his dental hygienist told me that he would need to go to an orthodontist who would install a type of guard in his mouth that would correct the problem. Her reference was her niece who had it done and within a couple of weeks was swallowing correctly, etc.

 

My ds is too young yet per the dental hygienist so we haven't pursued this in any way.

 

My ds also has speech therapy and to date, it hasn't been brought up as something that needs to be fixed.

 

Is it a guard or are they sharp spikes? I've only heard of the spikes. If there's some type of guard, I'd like to try that, but I'm not so sure about using spikes.

[Jane Elliot]

Not in a DC, but in me. I have long-standing speech/language disabilities, and had real problems with tongue thrust as well as a few other sounds. A big part of the problem, for me, is that my brain has "autocorrect" built in. I don't "hear" the sound I actually say when I talk, I "hear" what I intended to say.

 

By far, the biggest help was something that I didn't get to do until college, when a grad student working on their thesis had me try a computer program that would show as a graphic (like an oscilloscope, I think) how it looked when she said the word or made the sound, and then compared it to me saying the same word/sound. In being able to SEE the difference between, say, my tongue being just slightly forward and back in position, it was easier for me to correct it and to learn how it felt. I still lose it when I'm tired, but the difference in a year really was more than in about 15 years of prior therapy.

 

I think there are applications for iPads which can do the same thing, so it might be something to look into.

 

That computer program sounds really fascinating. At this point, I'm fairly content with his speech. He's able to make all his sounds correctly on a consistent basis. My main concern is that his swallowing and resting tongue position would thwart future orthodontics.

[ccm]

I worked with a speech therapist to correct a tongue thrust when I was a child. This was in the 1970's so I'm sure something better has come along. But this worked for me: the speech therapist had me place a small orthodontic elastic (those really small ones) on the tip of my tongue, place my tongue on the roof of my mouth (hard palate-slightly behind the upper central incisors) and hold the elastic in place for a short period of time. Each week she increased the amount of time I needed to hold the elastic in place. This worked for me. I've also heard of using a lifesaver until it dissolves in the mouth, but I think there would be a choking hazard and greater chance of tooth decay.

[Sharpie]

Is it a guard or are they sharp spikes? I've only heard of the spikes. If there's some type of guard, I'd like to try that, but I'm not so sure about using spikes.

 

I honestly don't know. This was the first I had heard of it and I didn't ask many questions as the dental hygienist indicated it would be another couple of years before he would even be eligible.

[Penny_P]

My ds is currently in therapy for this now. You have to be absolutely religious with the exercises, which, to be honest, after 4 weeks of vacation and sickness, we haven't been. I haven't seen progress yet, and the therapist made us repeat a week for our faithlessness. He doesn't use straws, but he is supposed to keep the orthodontic rubberband in his mouth like the pp stated for an hour a day at this point. DS is ten and had speech therapy through the ps. Our district will allocate money toward private therapy since we homeschool, which is how we found this therapist. Schools will not address a tongue thrust, even though his speech therapy wasn't making much progress. It was because of this tongue thrust that he's speech is off. He's such a handsome boy when his tongue isn't hanging out. :tongue_smilie: I'm really glad to hear people have had success with an exercise regimen. Back to work for us.

[Donna A.]

I worked with a speech therapist to correct a tongue thrust when I was a child. This was in the 1970's so I'm sure something better has come along. But this worked for me: the speech therapist had me place a small orthodontic elastic (those really small ones) on the tip of my tongue, place my tongue on the roof of my mouth (hard palate-slightly behind the upper central incisors) and hold the elastic in place for a short period of time. Each week she increased the amount of time I needed to hold the elastic in place. This worked for me. I've also heard of using a lifesaver until it dissolves in the mouth, but I think there would be a choking hazard and greater chance of tooth decay.

 

My 16yod used these same techniques in her ST of approximately 3 years when she was younger (aged 4 to 7). In addition to the little elastics, she also used Pixy Stix (dd got to choose her favorite flavor!) and put just a smidge of the power onto the tip of her tongue and place it up on the roof with her tongue. After the lesson, she got to eat the rest of the Pixy Stick that had been opened. ;)

 

She also did blowing bubbles, whistling, and blowing her nose (none of which dd could do before ST). I didn't realize before that that one needs to have their tongue placed correctly in order to blow their nose!

 

She did flashcards with words using specific sounds, and she had to gradually speed up her time in saying the words/sounds correctly.

 

She did an exercise with tongue depressors. ST (or I, at home) would hold her tongue down in place while dd did exercises around the tongue depressor.

 

She would plays games with the ST, and in between turns she'd have to do an exercise or "command" before she got to take another turn.

 

I'm sure there were other things, too, but those are the exercises we can remember offhand. I agree that faithfulness in practicing at home is very important.

 

You might be interested in Color Phonics as a resource to use at home. It's computer based and shows color-coded moving diagrams for proper mouth/lip/tongue position for forming the sounds. Scroll down here to see what I mean... this isn't *just* a phonics (learn-to-read) program: http://www.colorphonics.com/

 

Oh, the ST my dd went through definitely DID help. However, at age 16 now, either habit or something else causes her to slip sometimes, especially when she's talking fast or very tired. So it's something she has to be conscious of when speaking to others.

[mum]

We did YEARS of speech therapy with dd for tongue thrust, the whole intense home program, but it works! You have to find a SLP that specializes in that, many do general exercises for it that don't help at all. If there's not a big home component to the program, then it probably won't be effective. It takes a lot of time and serious effort to retrain that problem. She also had a guard fitted to a retainer. It didn't have spikes. It was all worth it. Now dd is almost grown and has no speech problems and orthodontic work has maintained beautifully for years post-braces.