Oral Stability Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Marshalla Speech & Language

Tag: Oral Stability

Strength vs. Motor Patterns — The Nitty Gritty

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I was at the IAOM convention in the fall of 2013, and I heard you speak on oral stability. You used your hands to describe the difference between oral strength and oral movement patterns. Can you post it here? I would like to share it with my colleagues and I can’t remember what you said. This is probably the best way I have discovered to describe the difference between movement patterns and strength of movement. Hand Movement vs. Hand…

Jaw Sliding

By Pam Marshalla

Q: Could you talk about young kids with articulation disorders who demonstrate significant jaw sliding? What causes this when there is no neuromuscular problems? Jaw sliding left and right pulls the tongue laterally away from its alignment with the palate. This causes articulation of the tongue to the palate to be off and this distorts sound quality. Treatment is to stabilize the jaw at midline. There is no telling why these things occur. All movements are asymmetrical to a certain…

Stimulating Tongue-Back Lowering

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My adolescent client speaks while holding his tongue tensed against the roof of his mouth in an “ing” position all the time. He has had years of therapy due to hearing impairment but can not produce a T, D or N at all. Most all of my oral motor experience has been to increase strength/tone. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Ahhhhhh…. You have discovered that “oral motor” needs to be much more than simply “strengthening” the mechanism. In fact,…

Stimulating Long E

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I took your course on intelligibility and understand the importance of Long E in achieving the starting point for all vowels, but I cannot get my client to make a good E. It sounds flat. I would try this–– Have him say a big oral strong “Ah”. The tell him to “keep saying Ah” while he bites his back teeth together (or on a bitestick) Then tell him to “keep saying Ah” while he smiles broadly. Model this diphthong…

Lisp Remediation With Anterior Open Bite

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a student with a frontal lisp and an anterior open bite. Can you suggest compensatory strategies to help him? If he is going to get his teeth fixed I might wait to do anything until after he teeth are fixed. If he is not going to get his teeth fixed, then the compensation simply involves getting him to produce the best sibilants he can given his dental structure. He needs to stabilize the tongue at the back-lateral…

The Basics of Lisp Remediation and Oral Stability

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My client is 4;0 and has a combined frontal and lateral lisp. I have not taken any of your classes or read any of your books. Any suggestions as to how to proceed with treatment? I have written volumes on this topic and it is somewhat difficult to describe in a quick QA. But I will do my best. The short and sweet answer to this question as I see it is as follows (and if you have not…

Small, Gentle Jaw Control

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My client lowers the jaw too much when he speaks, and he has a frontal lisp. He tends to clench the jaw when I tell him to hold the jaw up. I may have taught him this when using a bite stick to position the jaw. Not sure what to do now. As you have discovered, making a strong crushing bite on a firm object is not what he needs. The term “jaw stability” does not mean “jaw rigidity.”…