Oral Helpers

Oral: Address texture preferences in the mouth by giving strong desensitizing oral touch daily and completing the brushing and joint compression protocol:

Remember: if they don't want to touch something on their hands, they usually won't put it in their mouth, let them explore with hands as well as mouth!

oral defensiveness: Use play time to always explore textures with feet and hands before mouth if child is defensive to oral textures. Use textures that they normally don't like to eat to play with hands and feet at a time different than meal time to make it fun and non-intrusive.

Let hands stay messy, do not immediately clean hands.

****Use vibrating toys, vibrating star (baby teething section of Walmart), Nuk massage brush, or Spin Brush ($4) at Walmart around mouth and in mouth. Do this Abrushing and vibration in the mouth in the palate and tongue before trying to eat a new food texture.

* Have several available throughout the house, car, and school that you can give them whenever inappropriate biting, chewing, licking, or mouthing objects happens to replace the behavior but give them the oral input they need to calm themself.

There are over 30 steps to eating, all starting with just being in the same room with a new food. From tolerating it on the table, tolerating the smell and look of it, to putting it in the mouth, it won't happen overnight. This is why therapy is so important!

Tooth brushing: Using an electric or spin brush for tooth brushing and letting them play with it and explore it along with other types of vibration to hands, arms, shoulders, and letting them hold it against cheeks and lips firmly to decrease oral defensiveness. Also, more importantly, continuing fun oral toy play with bubble blowers, noise makers, and musical instruments that make touch to the mouth fun and non intrusive.

Site empowered by
WebOnTheFly