Low oral muscle tone

Speech
The production of speech is a motor act involving the tongue,
lips, teeth, cheeks, palate and respiratory muscles.

Characteristics of loworal muscle tone

1.  Drooling
2.  Poor lip closure
3.  Abnormality of lips at rest
4.  Abnormality of spread of lips
5.  Big / heavy / fat tongue
6.  Abnormality of tongue at rest
7.  Reduced elevation of tongue
8.  Poor alternating movements of tongue.
9.  Restricted tongue movements.
10.  Reduced phonation time - phonation = production of vocal

       sounds

1.  Poor intelligibility of repetition.

  
Importance of oral muscle tone
Strengthening these oral/facial muscles help to:

1. Improve articulation
2. Eating, chewing, and swallowing patterns.
3. Decrease drooling.

The child further gets the opportunity to explore his mouth
Making him aware of the different functions of his oral
structures.

Exercises to improve oral muscle tone

Tell the learners to:

Open and close your mouth slowly several times.
Pucker your lips, as for a kiss, hold, then relax.
Spread your lips into a big smile, hold, then relax.
Open your mouth then try to pucker with your mouth wide open.
Do not close your jaw. Hold, relax.
Close your lips tightly and press together. Relax.
Close your lips firmly, slurp all the saliva onto the top of your tongue.
Open your mouth and stick out your tongue. Be sure your tongue comes straight out of your mouth and does not go off the side. Hold and relax.
Stick out your tongue and move it slowly from corner to corner of your lips. Hold in each corner, relax. Be sure your tongue actually touches each corner each time.
Stick out your tongue and try to reach your chin with the tongue tip. Hold at the farthest point. Relax.
Stick out your tongue and try to reach your nose with the tongue tip. Do not use your bottom lip or your fingers as helpers. Hold as far up as you can reach. Relax.
Stick out your tongue. Pretend to lick a sucker moving the tongue tip from down by chin to up by nose.
Go slowly and use as much movement as you can. Relax.
Stick your tongue out and pull it back, then repeat as many times as you can and as quickly as you can. Rest.
Move tongue from corner to corner as quickly as you can. Rest.
Move tongue all around your lips in a circle as quickly, but as completely as you can, touching all of upper lip, corner, lower lip, and corner in your circle. Rest..
Say pa-pa-pa-pa as quickly as you can without losing the pa sound.
Be sure there is a p and an ah each time. Rest.
Say ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta as quickly and accurately as you can. Rest, repeat.
Say ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka as quickly and accurately as you can. Rest, repeat.
Say pataka- pataka - pataka (or buttercup) as quickly and accurately as you can. Rest.