Individualized therapy to address articulation and language delays, late-talking toddlers, developmental delays, and fluency disorders.  

Myofunctional therapy is a program of exercises that retrains the muscles of the tongue, lips, face, and throat to improve breathing, chewing, swallowing, and oral rest posture.

It can help with mouth breathing, tongue thrust, open bite, snoring, sleep-disordered breathing, TMJ tension, poor oral rest posture, tongue/lip ties, orthodontic relapse, and certain speech sound issues.

Mouth breathing changes how your face and jaws grow, leading to more airway issues later in life. Mouth breathing can cause crooked teeth, facial deformities, or poor growth in children. In adults, chronic mouth breathing can cause bad breath and gum disease. It can also worsen symptoms of other illnesses.

An Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder (OMD) occurs when there is an abnormal tongue, jaw, or lip position during rest, swallowing, or speech. OMDs can interfere with normal growth and development of the muscles and bones of the face and mouth. If speech-sound errors exist along with an OMD, they typically involve the sounds that require tongue-tip elevation and alveolar/palatal ridge precision. This may be demonstrated by tongue protrusion between the teeth or pushing against the teeth to produce the sounds /t/, /d/, /n/, and /l/. Other sounds that may be impacted by jaw and/or tongue stability are a frontal or lateral “lisp” are the /s/, /z/, “sh,”, “ch,” “tsh,” or /j/

We usually start seeing patients around age 5 and into adulthood. As a speech-language pathologist (SLP) and Certified Orofacial Myofunctional Therapist (COM), I can work with young children to improve tongue and lip function, swallowing, breathing, and oral habits. Early intervention can help prevent feeding, speech, and airway issues later.

 We are a fee-for-service practice that allow us to provide care without constraints of insurance. As a medical provider practice, some of patients successfully get reimbursed from their insurance company based on our super bills that provide all the diagnosis codes.  We can provide you with our detailed insurance question form to help you ask the right questions to determine if insurance will reimburse your evaluation/therapy. 

“Certification, in any particular specialty, distinguishes the professional as obtaining a superior level of education, understanding, and competency. When a professional chooses to pursue certification, it denotes a dedication to learning as much as possible in their field of choice. It allows the patient or client to narrow their search more easily when searching for the most competent professional to ensure they receive the highest level of education and care.

The IAOM Certification (COM) process challenges the participant with an in-depth investigation into the etiologies, symptoms, treatment variances, and supportive research related to Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders. The process enhances their breadth of clinical knowledge that cannot obtained through a single course method.” 

Sound Mouths therapists are certified by the IAOM.

Myofunctional therapy is appropriate for children, teens, and adults who have difficulty with nasal breathing, chewing, swallowing, or maintaining a lips-together resting posture, struggle with messy or selective eating, or have been diagnosed with a tongue thrust or restricted oral tissues.

If you are ready to work with our team to peel back the layers to get to the root cause inhibiting or stalling progress,  WE are the RIGHT fit for you. 

A tongue tie, lip tie, or buccal tie is a condition present at birth that limits movement of the tongue, lips, or cheeks.These ties can make breastfeeding, eating, speaking, or keeping the mouth healthy more difficult. Early evaluation and therapy can help. To properly diagnose, one must assess function as well as appearance

When a person swallows incorrectly,  the tongue’s tip and/or sides press against or spread between the teeth.  A tongue thrust is a symptom, not a diagnosis. Identifying a tongue thrust would warrant an orofacial myofunctional evaluation with one of our Certified Orofacial Myologists. 

Finger/Thumbsucking and Pacifer are used to soothe a child.  Pacifier use should eliminated between 6-12 months. Finger/Thumbsucking should self-eliminate between 2-4 years of age. Prolonged oral habits should be addressed by a Certified Orofacial Myologist who can determine if any underlying causes persist in these noxious habits.