Oral motor update

We began really focusing on oral motor improvement on Dariya about 3 weeks ago.  Using Sara Rosenfeld Johnson's straw therapy, chewy tubes for jaw strengthening and cheek and lip massage to stimulate those muscles (this was something I learned from Alayna's previous speech therapist). 

Dariya has done fantastically well.  She has been able to go from needing jaw support to drink with straw #1 to being able to do it on her own without bringing her tongue outside her mouth.   She also loves the cheek massage and reminds me to do it daily. 

She is beginning to smile for pictures!

At breakfast this morning she picked up her cup and drank all by herself using the proper technique.  Jason immediately noticed and praised her on how well she is doing.  She has come so far in such a short time.  I am truly thankful I went to this workshop. 

At first Jason was pretty skeptical of the price of the straws but, we have found it to be worth it.   I look forward to the girls moving up to the next straw and seeing how this has an impact on their speech development. 

Alayna has better oral motor skills and can easily drink from straw 1, 2, and 3 already (possibly higher but, I haven't tried them yet).  The benefits of this therapy for tongue retraction, jaw stability, and speech production are numerous and we look forward to hearing Dariya produce more sounds and Alayna being more intelligible in her speech in the near future. 

As Christmas nears Jason has been working later and later (9:45 on Tuesday) so thankfully Aidan has been super helpful entertaining the girls during the transition times before and after dinner so we don't experience melt down city too often (on the girls part anyway).   Here is a little clip of the antics.