In oro-myofunctional therapy, swallowing steps are practiced by drinking water from a glass. If that causes problems, use a dosing syringe.
The swallowing steps can not be carried out in a correct way, if the tongue comes forward when you start drinking or when too large gulps are taken. Then the dosing syringe offers a solution, even if the client can not hold a sip of water with the tongue, while the theeth are not in occlusion.
When learning to swallow water, you can use the syringe. It goes like this: ask the client to bring the tip of the tongue to ‘the spot’, behind the upper teeth (papilla incisiva). Close your teeth and your lips as well. Place the end of the syringe in the corner of your mouth. Spray a small amount of water into the mouth, towards the molars. Let the client bring the water on the surface of the tongue. The client then lowers the lower jaw while the tongue is hold firmly against the palate while holding the water. Subsequently swallowing is done according to the swallowing steps described in the OMFT protocol. No sound may be heard during the swallow. If you do hear a noise during the slurp, there is (still) a deviate swallow.
The syringe can be ordered in the webshop of OMFT.info.
