Hello everyone!
In this next set of 5 blog posts I will be talking about what we like to call…”the path to good sounds”. In this series of blogs we will talk about:
All of these components are essential to developing appropriate speech sounds but also essential for how your child is able to breathe, swallow, eat, and ultimately grow and develop! Let’s jump into the first step in this pathway…oral rest posture.
Oral rest posture is a fancy way of saying we need to have our mouth in a certain position when we are not using it for speaking or eating…when it is RESTING.
In an ideal world we want three things. First, the tongue should be lightly suctioned to the palate (roof of the mouth). Second, the lips should be completely closed, this helps give the teeth in our mouth a boundary to follow as they are growing into place. Thirdly, we should be predominantly breathing through our nose. It’s not a crime to have our mouth open occasionally, but we should not be primarily mouth breathing.
By establishing good “oral rest posture” we will be able to have our mouths in position to produce the best sounds, swallow effectively, and develop the bone growth of our face, mouths, and incoming teeth.
Next time we’ll talk about how to have control of our mouth and why that is important in learning to produce clear speech!
Talk soon!
-Kasey