This advice-column-style blog for SLPs was authored by Pam Marshalla from 2006 to 2015, the archives of which can be explored here. Use the extensive keywords list found in the right-hand column (on mobile: at the bottom of the page) to browse specific topics, or use the search feature to locate specific words or phrases throughout the entire blog.
Outgrow jaw instability?
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My four-year-old client has apraxia and jaw instability. The mom wants to know if jaw stability will improve on its own.
There is no way to know that. Certainly jaw stability improves with time, but it may not improve in this child without help. He is developing oral motor patterns that may stay with him until he receives therapy to change them. He should have jaw stability by now, so the question is, why doesn’t he? Whatever is preventing it from stabilizing presumably will continue to inhibit it.