Oral Placement Therapy | Mile Stone Therapy

At Mile Stone Therapy, we specialize in Oral Placement Therapy (OPT) to help children improve their oral motor skills, enabling them to develop better feeding, speech, and overall oral function. Whether your child is struggling with eating, speaking, or oral sensitivity, OPT can provide the targeted support they need to thrive.

What is Oral Placement Therapy?

Oral Placement Therapy (OPT) is a therapeutic approach designed to address issues related to the muscles of the mouth, face, and jaw. It focuses on improving oral motor skills, which are essential for feeding, speech, and other daily oral tasks. OPT involves the use of specific exercises and techniques to strengthen and improve coordination of the muscles required for speech articulation, swallowing, chewing, and other oral functions.

At Mile Stone, we focus on:

  • Improving Oral Motor Skills: Through targeted exercises, we help children strengthen the muscles needed for speech and feeding.
  • Enhancing Speech Clarity: By addressing the coordination of the mouth and facial muscles, we help children articulate sounds more effectively.
  • Feeding and Swallowing: We work on skills like chewing, swallowing, and managing different food textures for safer and more effective eating.
  • Oral Sensory Integration: Reducing hypersensitivity or oral aversions that make eating or speaking uncomfortable.

Why is Oral Placement Therapy Required?

Oral motor difficulties can have a significant impact on a child’s ability to communicate and eat. Oral Placement Therapy is essential for children who struggle with:

  • Speech delays or unclear articulation: Difficulty pronouncing sounds, syllables, or words clearly.
  • Feeding challenges: Issues with chewing, swallowing, or handling certain food textures.
  • Oral hypersensitivitySensitivities to certain foods, textures, or even the act of speaking.
  • Cleft lip/palate:Children born with a cleft lip or palate may experience ongoing challenges with speech and feeding that require specialized therapy.

How Our Program Works

At Mile Stone Therapy, we take a personalized, step-by-step approach to Oral Placement Therapy. Our therapists create a program tailored to your child’s specific needs, using a combination of techniques designed to strengthen and coordinate oral motor skills.

  • Initial Assessment: We start with a comprehensive evaluation of your child’s oral motor skills, speech patterns, and feeding abilities to determine areas of need.
  • Customized Therapy Plan: Based on the assessment, we develop an individualized therapy plan to target the specific skills your child needs to improve, whether it’s feeding, speech, or sensory integration.
  • Therapeutic Exercises: Using specialized tools and techniques, we guide your child through exercises that improve strength, coordination, and sensory processing in the mouth, jaw, and face.
  • Parent Involvement: We work closely with parents to offer strategies and exercises that can be practiced at home, supporting progress outside of therapy sessions.
  • Ongoing Monitoring: We track your child’s progress and adjust the therapy plan as needed to ensure that they are continually improving and meeting their goals.

Who Can Benefit from Oral Placement Therapy?

Oral Placement Therapy is beneficial for children who experience difficulties related to:

  • Speech delays or unclear articulation
  • Feeding challenges
  • Oral hypersensitivity
  • Cleft lip/palate or other congenital conditions
  • Neurological conditions
  • Sensory processing disorders

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

OPT can help children improve speech clarity by strengthening the muscles of the mouth, jaw, and face. Through targeted exercises, we help children learn to produce sounds and words more clearly and with better articulation.

OPT helps with issues like difficulty chewing, swallowing, managing different food textures, and oral hypersensitivity. It is especially helpful for children who have difficulty transitioning to solid foods or handling foods with varying textures.

The length of therapy depends on the severity of the issues and the child's individual progress. Some children may show improvements in a few weeks, while others may need more extended therapy to achieve their goals.

While OPT is beneficial for many children with speech and feeding challenges, it’s important to consult with a trained therapist to determine if it’s the right approach for your child. OPT can be used alone or in combination with other therapies as needed.