Myofunctional Therapy: A Comprehensive Guide for Parents

You may not have heard about myofunctional therapy before. However, this rehabilitative approach offers immense benefits for promoting proper oral muscle function, facilitating speech clarity, improving body posture, and more in both kids and adults.

If your child demonstrates habitual patterns like mouth breathing, tongue thrusting, poor resting posture, or articulation errors, myofunctional therapy can help correct foundational muscle imbalances for wholebody wellness.

What is Myofunctional Therapy?

Also called orofacial myology, myofunctional therapy focuses on assessing and treating improper muscle movements involving the mouth, face and neck. 

A myofunctional therapist provides customized oral motor and pharyngeal strengthening exercises to establish healthy patterns for optimal growth and function.

Who Benefits From Treatment?

A variety of issues in both children and adults can be improved through myofunctional treatment including:

Children:

  • Articulation and motor speech errors
  • Tongue thrust swallow patterns
  • Chronic open mouth posture
  • Tongue tie restrictions
  • Habitual pacifier/finger/thumb sucking
  • Mouth breathing or snoring
  • Crooked teeth or poor jaw alignment

Adults:

  • Sleep disordered breathing or apnea
  • Forward neck and head posture
  • TMJ dysfunction
  • Voice irregularities
  • Facial pain

Myofunctional therapy restores balance and coordination to ensure proper rest positioning and efficient, adaptive movements for speech and swallowing success.

The Myofunctional Therapy Process

A certified therapist first performs comprehensive assessments to analyze oral muscle strength and tone, breathing, chewing and swallowing function. 

They gather case history details and observe postural, feeding and speech habits. These findings inform the creation of an individualized treatment plan.

Typical myofunctional therapy interventions include:

  • Oral motor skill building
  • Resistance exercises for tongue and lip strength
  • Isolating muscle groups
  • Tactile tools to establish proper tongue positioning
  • Biofeedback
  • Habit reversal techniques
  • Integrating skills into phrases
  • Coordinating swallowing
  • Home exercise programs

With consistent therapy over weeks to months, clients demonstrate significant improvements in muscle tone, oral rest postures and speech fluency.

Restore Oral Balance Through Myofunctional Rehabilitation

If you notice your child frequently breathing through their mouth, thrusting their tongue during speech or swallowing, or displaying poor head/neck alignment, myofunctional therapy can help. 

Call today to discuss how this rehabilitative treatment can reinforce proper oral motor patterns for speech clarity, postural balance and whole body alignment in your child.