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What Is 'Myofunctional Therapy', 'Tongue Thrust', 'Horizontal Swallow'?: 'Myofunctional therapy' is a type of Oral Motor therapy directed at treatment of 'tongue thrust' or 'horizontal swallow' pattern and related oral motor issues. This may be thought of as muscle function therapy to establish appropriate oral function for chewing and swallowing. The terms 'tongue thrust' and 'horizontal swallow' are descriptors of inappropriate action of the tongue during a swallow. In a normal swallow, tongue movement is along a vertical rather than horizontal plane. The horizontal movement is appropriate only in early suck/swallow patterns where the tongue moves forward to propel liquid or food back to swallow. This pattern is usually replaced by a more mature pattern of anterior to posterior tongue elevation which propels the liquid or food back to accomplish the swallow.
Professional Team Involvement: Professionals work as a team to provide the most appropriate and effective treatment of issues affecting our common patients. Those involved in the Myofunctional treatment may include: Dentists/Orthodontists: address hard tissue issues of craniofacial bone development and dentition (lower third facial growth, anterior and lateral openbites, dental malocclusion) ENT: address structural issues related to respiration such as nasal occlusion, large tonsils, sleep apnea, and lingual frenectomy (when appropriate) Speech Language Pathologists: address soft tissue issues including strength, tone and endurance of orofacial muscles (lingual, labial and jaw muscles) which in turn may impact hard tissue development. Physical Therapists: address TMJ dysfunction, bruxism, soft tissue restrictions, range of motion limitations and strength imbalances. Child Development Center of Colorado Springs, Inc.
Evaluation Components: The Myofunctional evaluation takes into account hard tissue, soft tissue, respiration, oral sensory motor skills, contributing habits and oral motor functions of speaking, chewing and swallowing. It begins with a series of questions directed at identifying relevant history, patients self awareness and motivation for change. It includes direct oral and facial observations during chewing, drinking, swallowing and speaking. The following areas are components of the evaluation: * Hard tissue (craniofacial bone development, orthodontics, hard palate) * Respiration and resting postures (respiration, lip resting posture, lingual resting posture, jaw resting posture) * Soft tissue (lips, mentalis muscle, tongue, tonsils and adenoids, frenae) * Oral sensory-motor skills (intra-oral sensitivity, tongue-lip-jaw differentiation) * Contributing habits (digit sucking and pacifier use beyond age 3) * Oral motor functions (speaking, chewing and swallowing) It is essential to evaluate across all areas for the most complete, appropriate and effective treatment program
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Treatment Program: Following the thorough evaluation, the decision will be made whether or not treatment is appropriate. The treatment program will typically be 12 weeks in length with therapy 1x weekly provided the patient is actively involved and demonstrates good follow through with home programming. Duration and frequency are recommended on an individual basis as the scope and severity of issues may vary greatly from one individual to another. Treatment programs are individually developed to meet the specific needs of the patient. Goals of Myofunctional Therapy: * lingual stabilization during the preparatory phase of the swallow and actual swallow *differentiation of oral motor movement and refinement * adequate lingual strength, tone and endurance for standard swallow, oral motor and speech function All of these areas contribute to establishing a mature vertical swallow pattern, oral motor functioning as well as accuracy in speech sound production. Post therapeutic follow-up visits are recommended periodically in the months post therapy to ensure continued success and carryover of skills.
Referral Checklist Orofacial/ Myofunctional Therapy services may be beneficial to treat the following issues:
Additional support Physical Therapy services are also available to treat the following accociated issues :
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