Product Reviews

Why Straw & Cup Drinking are Better Options than Sippy Cups

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Honey Bear with Supportive Accessories for Teaching Straw Drinking

Just Say No to the Sippy

Sippy cups, prolonged bottle drinking, and excessive pacifier use can hinder oral development. As a speech pathologist, I advise families to switch to straw and cup drinking. This post aims to discuss why opting for straw and cup drinking over sippy cups can significantly benefit your child’s oral development and overall health.

Sippy cups

A sippy cup mimics bottle feeding, promoting an immature sucking pattern. By age one, children should transition to straw or open cup. A suckle pattern means that your child needs to stick his or her tongue out of the mouth to drink.  There is little to no tongue retraction involved in this movement.  Most of the time, the liquid will drip out of a sippy if you turn it upside down. 

Extended use of a bottle or sippy cup may promote poor tongue posture.  As a result, you will notice your child’s tongue rest outside of the mouth and you may observe articulation difficulty, especially with production of sounds made inside the mouth along the palate (t, d, k, g, n). As toddlers grow, we want to support transitioning them from a suckle pattern to a more mature movement. Toddlers, particularly those with speech delays, often protrude their tongues slightly while speaking or eating. This tongue position mirrors the placement for suckle drinking. 

Nuby Cup

Now that you know the pitfalls of using a sippy cup, let me offer two other options that not only secure liquids in a cup but also promote good oral motor development: a Nuby cup and straws.  First, the Nuby cup looks like a sippy, but has a flexible top that encourages sucking rather than suckling to drink.  The flow of liquid cannot drip out as easy as the sippy cup; rather it requires some effort, or sucking on the child’s part.  Similar to straw drinking, this sucking pattern pulls the tongue back into the mouth thereby supporting good oral motor development.

Straw Drinking Supports

A built-in straw cup is another great option but can be a little challenging for beginners, so it may be easier to start with a regular straw.  If your child is not sure how to use a straw, then trap some liquid in one end and slowly release that liquid into your child’s mouth once he puts his lips around the straw.  In the event that your one-year old or child with special needs needs more supports in learning how to drink from a straw, then I would highly recommend the Bear Bottle Collection from Ark Therapeutics.

Bear Bottle, lip blocker, and one-way valve:

This adorable, bear-shaped bottle is a great way to transition your child from bottle to straw drinking with several supports for quick success.  We attach a lip blocker to the straw to prevent excessive insertion into the mouth and encourage tongue retraction. This durable tool stays put after washing. There are three types of blockers sold by Ark Therapeutic which allow for graduation as your child improves his ability to position musculature for drinking without tactile feedback. The one-way valve traps fluid in the straw, preventing it from dropping back when suction is released. This makes learning to drink from the straw less effortful and sets the child on a quick path for success.

The Benefits of Straw Drinking

Straw drinking promotes tongue retraction into the mouth while drinking. To draw liquid from the cup, the tongue must retract into the mouth, a crucial movement for speech sounds like (t, d, k, g, n). You can also mix things up a little by varying the intensity of the straw. Shorter straws with thin liquids suit beginners, while longer or twisty straws with thicker liquids demand more effort. The latter version challenges older children to improve oral motor awareness. Drinking thick beverages with a straw improves lip and tongue awareness, aiding sound placements. Speech therapy alongside this change shows success.

I’ve long advocated for the straw’s benefits, even using seasonal ones as speech practice prizes. A small change can impact development significantly. While eliminating sippy cup usage is a great start, it will not be the only change that you need to make.  Please continue working with your speech pathologist and practicing sound targets at home to develop muscle memory for improved articulation development.

Seated Drinking

Children don’t need a cup in hand all the time. Overconsumption of liquids from sippy cups can hinder eating. Many children fill up on these liquids, making it difficult for them to eat because their bellies have an excess. Plus, it is far more challenging for children to drink while walking around, than it is when they are seated. Toddlers focus on moving around, making drinking from a cup challenging. They might spill or choke as they navigate and drink. Seated postures for drinking are just more optional all around. Let’s make sure children are seated safely before offering drinks, though they can still have water throughout the day.

In conclusion, by eliminating sippy cups and opting for better drinking choices, you’re not just improving oral motor development but overall health.

Teaching Present, Past, & Future Verbs with a Dynamic app

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Teaching present, past, and future verb tenses has never been easier with the Tense Builder app by the Mobile Education Store! With two levels of play, short video clips, and a variety of settings, this app will surely please any crowd.  This app has been on my iPad since its release in 2012 and I still use it for teaching verb tenses twelve years later!  For those who have not seen it before, let me show you the settings and two levels of play.

Over a decade ago, I was given this app so I could put it to the test and offer a first person, hands on review of the product.

PROS:

  • Ability to record answers to foster expressive language and articulation practice.
  • Engaging video clips that hold attention
  • Leveled game play
  • Built-in teaching tool

Settings Screen:

The following features can be switched on or off:

  • Audio Instructions: select to play the same direction on each screen.
  • Answer Reinforcement: a naturally sounding voice repeats the correct sentence.
  • Record Correct Answer: clients work on their own expressive skills and gain auditory feedback by recording their voice reading the accurate sentence. Also a great option to work on articulation of sounds at the sentence level. My young examiners LOVED this feature!

Levels of Play

Level 1: clients match a sentence to the correct picture in a field of three. First, you hit the “Play Video” button and then watch a short clip. The clips are really fun and they contain sound effects that delighted my clients! Next, you will see one of the scenes from the movie. Last, you tap the correct picture answer.

Level 2: clients must drag the correct verb tense to complete the sentence. You can select future, present, past, or all verb tenses for either level. Again, you must first watch an animated video. While the videos only use sound effects, you may see some word bubbles above characters.

In this level, the word choice you select is said aloud as you begin to drag the word or word phrase to the top of the page to complete the sentence. I especially like this feature because it allows clients self correct errors. You can also set how many choices you want to display. This way, you can start at an easy level with three choices and increase the challenge gradually to as many as seven choices.

Tense: select future/ present/ past/ all

Regular/ Irregular Verbs/ All: select one or both for a mixed play

Lesson Style: chose between a “long” or “short” lesson. Should you hit the “Play lesson” on a picture screen, you will get a lesson about the verb target. Regardless of which type of lesson you chose, short or long, you will see a visual demonstration with verbal instructions. Yet another, great feature!

I hope that you get a chance to try this app at home!  At $9.99, it’s an affordable and interactive option for teaching verb tenses. This gem made it to my top 10 list of favorite apps.

Expressive by Smarty Ears Apps- An Affordable AAC app

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What do you think is a reasonable price for an AAC app compatible with the iPhone/ iPad that includes over 14,000 images and acts as a voice output communication system? An AAC app of this magnitude typically costs over a hundred dollars. What if I told you that you could get this app for under sixty dollars? Crazy, right? Well, the cost for the Expressive app by Smarty Ears is an affordable $59.99! 

I was given this app so I could put it to the test and offer a first person, hands on review of the product.

PROS:

  • This AAC app with 14,000 images is a steal for the price.
  • The ability to customize it with settings controls and links to add your own photos!
  • The main menu page is very organized and user friendly.

CONS:

  • It would be even better if the developers could eliminate moving to a new screen to view category members.

Main Page

Now, let’s take a closer look at this affordable AAC app and its customization features. We begin at the opening menu page. Here you will find color coded folders for the following groups: basics, categories, expressions, descriptive, food, people, places, questions, verbs, and time. After you tap the icon, you are navigated to another screen with category member images.

The main page also includes the following, core icons: not, yes, go, be, like, have, want, do, bad, and more.

Settings

The settings allow you to select either “on” or “off” modes for the ‘iCloud’, ‘lock’, ‘capital/lowercase’, ‘speak folder’, ‘automatically erases messages’, and ‘go to home after selection’ features.

Locking the app will prevent users from seeing the bottom tabs that bring you to the settings; allow you to delete or add images and folders; and give you access to other links for Smarty Ears, which includes a tutorial of this app. It is a good idea to lock the app if you want to avoid accidental deletion of images and folders.

The capital/lowercase selection displays the written word for the pictures you select to appear in either all lowercase or capital/lowercase. The Speak folder allows you to hear the name of the selected folder. Finally, the automatically erase feature removes images in the top bar after you play the sentence strip.

You can also change the speaker’s voice by choosing from four different male/female voices. If desired, you can slow down the rate of voicing or speed it up faster.

Another handy feature is the delete key. Simply tap the red “x” icon at the bottom of the screen to enter edit mode for delete, replace, or hide options.

If you need some specific pictures from your own photo library or if you want to add more smarty symbols, you can create new folders and add new images by tapping the green “+” button. In the screenshot below, you will notice a color wheel, which allows you to select a tab color for the folders and images you create. Once you add the picture and text, the app automatically sets an audio recording of the word! This by far is my favorite feature because you can really customize the app to suit any client, regardless of age!

The Engaging and Reinforcing Syntax City App

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Over a decade ago, the developers at Smarty Ears apps released their Syntax City App.  They were kind enough to gift me this $19.99 app so I could provide a first person, hands on review for caregivers and colleagues.  Nearly 12 years later and Syntax City still ranks in my top 10 list of apps for speech therapy. Let’s take an even closer look at this engaging and reinforcing app: Syntax City.

PROS:

  • You can customize this app for game play with several students at one time.
  • Ability to select easy to more challenging levels.
  • Fun layout and pictures that make learning engaging
  • Reinforcing, virtual prizes

CONS:

  • Sentences are read aloud and users must tap the correct word choice to fill in the blank. Unfortunately, the audio stops as soon as the user makes a selection. I would like to see the audio play the entire sentence.

Getting Started

Before you dive into the app, I highly recommend that you take a tour through a tutorial that lasts just under 10 minutes via the ‘Support’ tab. Next, you will need to set up some profiles. Type in the user name and chose either an avatar or photo image for a visitor badge. Up to five users can ‘visit the city’ at one time. You could also opt for a ‘quick play’ with one player, which will give you a chance to play and collect data, but the information will not save in ‘quick play’ mode.  At any time, you can remove badges too by deleting users.

While in settings mode, you can also chose the following:

  • Play Audio on/off
  • Remove error choices or allow users to hear a buzzer when incorrect
  • Recorder on/off

Before playing, you need to select the players that will visit, and then the next screen will show you selected users on the bottom. Simply drag and click users to any area you desire. Even better, you can bring one user to multiple locations. This is my favorite feature because you can target each individuals goal all during one game!! First, you move your player ID to a location, then you select a level. Some locations have more options for levels than others.

Syntax city is primarily a receptive language app with 2-3 word choices to fill in the blanks for sentences. However, you can also work on expressive language skills by having users record correct sentences, thereby giving users a chance to hear auditory feedback of syntactically correct sentences. By recording, you can also address any articulation concerns by having clients self-rate their utterances.

Playtime

Initially, the first thing that caught my eye about this app, was the clever, categorical layout of the city. You have the option of visiting any or all of the following locations:

  • Plurals Zoo
  • Was-Were Bakery
  • Do-Does Gym
  • Irregular Past Tense Farm
  • Is-Are Park
  • Have-Has Grocery
  • 3rd Person Singular Beach
  • He-She Ski Resort

After dragging players to locations, you are prompted to select a level of play.

When you first enter a location, you will see a scene related to that destination and hear a cute passage that talks about the importance of using that particular syntax appropriately.

Play commences with users shown his or her visitor badge in the upper left hand corner of the screen. A picture scene that matches the location appears with a sentence and 2-4 word choices (depending on the level of play selected.) Sentences are read aloud and users must tap the correct word choice to fill in the blank. Unfortunately, the audio stops as soon as the user makes a selection. I would like to see the audio play the entire sentence even if answer choices are selected quickly.

Rewards

The absolute highlight for all my trial users was earning prizes for correct answer choices. Each location has a shelf load of items that relate to the destination. For example, accurate answers on the beach earn you prizes like a beach towel, chair, and container of sea salt. I REALLY like the categorization design for prizes too! We have been reviewing the prize shelf, and then removing pictures and talking about the items we can recall from that category.

Also included in this app is a data collection screen. This page tracks each users performance in each location when you play in the ‘visit the city’ mode. You can opt to email, print or copy this page for fast and efficient data collection!

Creating Sentences with the Vibrant Rainbow Sentences app

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Embark on a colorful journey of language development as we delve into the efficacy of using the Rainbow Sentences app in therapy. You might have noticed a brief mention of Rainbow Sentences in my post, 10 Apps that Stand the Test of Time. I’d like to delve into creating grammatically correct sentences in more detail with the vibrant features of this app.
Rainbow Sentences, developed by Mobile Education Store, is accessible for $9.99 on the iPad platform.

I was given this app over a decade ago so I could put it to the test and offer a first person, hands on review of the product.

PROS:

  • You can toggle to allow sentence recordings to build expressive language skills and practice articulation of speech at the sentence level.
  • Reinforcing puzzle completion after accurately word ordering several sentences. The app stores the puzzles for you so when you return to your profile, you can pick up where you left off.
  • You get a nice break down of how many items clients answered correctly on their first, second, and third attempts for each complexity level. Plus, you can email this information!
  • Shown a scrambled sentence, you select “show,” then “play lesson.” This tool teaches sentence formation by answering questions, color-coding parts.
  • This tool guides clients in formulating sentences, answering questions, and color-coding sentence parts like “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” “why.”

First, you set the stage at the settings screen. Select the on or off mode for the following:

  • Audio instructions
  • Correct answer reinforcement
  • Record correct answer
  • Line color coding: Subjective parts of the sentence are coded in blue, while the predicate portions are red.
  • Word color coding: For more support, you can allow clients to match words to designated line colors.
  • Word grouping: Challenge your clients a bit by selecting this option and just a few lines are shown. Users must group words together into an accurate sentence with minimal cueing.

Levels of Play

There are three complexity levels in Rainbow Sentences for constructing short to longer grammatically correct sentences. The first level is simple: sequence a few blocks or 4-5 words into a grammatically correct sentence order.

The second level is slightly harder as it requires sequencing three blocks or seven words into a grammatically correct sentence.

The last level is the most difficult and can contain four blocks or as many as fourteen scrambled words.

As stated in the PROs section, you receive a breakdown of correct answers for each complexity level on first, second, and third attempts. Plus, you can email this information!

I couldn’t find any cons to owning this app, especially if your child needs help with constructing grammatically correct sentences.

Important Caregiver Information about Speech Buddies

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Close up image of Rabbit Speech Buddy for R

Over the last three decades, I have witnessed that some children benefit from feeling where to place their tongues to successfully produce target sounds, particularly those who have made little progress with traditional articulation therapy. A tactile approach has proven effective in unlocking articulation breakthroughs for children who have struggled with conventional therapy methods.

Speech Buddies

Complete Speech Buddy Kit displayed with iPad lesson plan

One tool that I have used with moderate success is Speech Buddies. These tools are the size and length of a tongue depressor that individually target: L, R, S, CH, and SH sounds by helping a child identify correct placement of the tongue to accurately produce that sound.  Here is how you introduce and use this product:

  1. I always begin with letting the child hold and feel the flexible tool before placing it in his mouth.
  2. Next, we talk about where his teeth and tongue should be positioned on the tool using the images in the booklet that the company provides.
  3. I always hold the Speech Buddy at first to help the child feel the right placement, but I quickly give them independence as this helps make them feel more comfortable.
  4. We start with saying words that begin with the targeted speech sound with the Speech Buddy in the mouth, but I swiftly transition to saying the word with the Buddy and then without.  Removing the Speech Buddy provides a reset that supports programming the muscles to store a memory of proper movement. To teach the mouth muscles to recall the correct placement, the child needs to say the word with support, then without.
  5. Practicing with the Speech Buddy twice weekly for 20 minutes fosters muscle memory better than longer, once-a-week sessions.

Considerations Before Making a Purchase

Consult your speech pathologist before trialing any tool; it ensures suitability and maximizes investment effectiveness for parents. These tools are not appropriate for everyone for several reasons:

  1. They require a certain level of cognitive ability to follow directions.
  2. Some children need to develop better jaw support before working on tongue movements.
  3. Not every child can tolerate having a tool in his mouth due to oral sensitivity and/or hyperactive gag reflex.
  4. Your child may not require this type of feedback to learn how to produce /l, r, s, ch, sh/ sounds.  Verbal cues alone may suffice.
  5. These products are not a ‘stand alone’ option or replacement for skilled speech evaluation and therapy.

Pros

  • I’ve found great success with Speech Buddies for improving /s, sh, ch, l/ sounds, in both school and private practice.
  • Parents can easily help children generalize practice at home. The tool helps ensure accurate articulator placement occurs every time.

Cons

  • In truth, my success with the R Buddy has been limited. There are two options for producing R: retroflex and bunched.  The Speech Buddy only supports the retroflex option.
  • The retroflex R movement is not best for everyone. Some children, especially those with tongue ties have a hard time with retroflex R.
  • Mastering the retroflex movement with the R Speech Buddy poses a challenge as it requires unraveling the Buddy with the tongue tip.
  • Speech Buddies are costly and not covered by insurance

Costs

Individual Speech Buddy tools range from $99-$124 in price with a complete kit costing close to three hundred dollars.  Unless your child needs help with all the above-mentioned targets, you do not need to purchase a kit.  I would suspect that if he does require help with several sounds, then your speech pathologist may need to work on improving jaw stability first.

I aimed to educate on tactile feedback for articulation delays and suggest Speech Buddy tools.  A formal evaluation before any home program is necessary. These evaluations are crucial in identifying other medical reasons like hearing issues or tongue ties that impede therapy progress.  As frustrating as it is to wait for testing, it is well worth the time.

A First Person Review of Versatile SPARK Cards

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Original Spark Cards Kit

It’s always exciting for me to review a product, especially one as versatile as SPARK Cards!  I can appreciate the hard work involved in creating educational items and the effort needed in promoting the tool.  This is an honest review of how I found benefit in using SPARK Cards for sequencing in my private practice.  

SPARK Cards Pros

Over the years, I have used SPARK Cards in my home office and teletherapy sessions with good success across a wide variety of ages, abilities, and settings.  Some of my favorite features include:

  • Durable cardboard cards with a gloss finish to withstand being handled by many, little hands
  • Ability to use a dry erase marker to bring attention to teaching concepts
  • Functional stories that support making connections to daily living
  • Detailed descriptions for each card in a sequence to make session planning easier for the busy SLP and facilitate generalization of skills in the home setting
  • Hypothetical problem solving probes for each topic
  • Appropriate for children as young as four years old through middle school-aged clients

Teletherapy

I used these cards in teletherapy in two, different ways.  One of my clients is working towards sentence formulation for functional tasks, so I scanned and loaded the Going to the Library deck in sequential order so we could address his goal without taxing the activity with sequencing.  This particular deck is my favorite in the collection because we can talk about the library year round.  I also like that the library itself mirrors a dated one that has patrons returning and checking out books the old fashioned way by handing them to a librarian.  It’s a nice way to compare/contrast past and present features.  I added some humor to the activity by joking about seeing a ladder.  We addressed answering yes/no questions and problem solving in a lighthearted way that I feel improves engagement and attention in any task.
 
The second way that I used the sequencing cards was via my document camera.  Another virtual client needs to improve sequencing skills, so I took three at a time from the Making a Lemonade Stand deck to provide choices while addressing sequential ordering.  The three cards with kitchen backgrounds are my favorite ones in this series because I could again work on comparing/contrasting room features in the pictures to my client’s kitchen.  Making these kinds of connections helps strengthen memory skills and brings much more meaning to our language activity.  

Recommendations

While I LOVE the convenient portability of the SPARK collection and ease at which I can store it in my ever growing therapy closet, I would like to see the cards enlarged a little.  Some of the smaller features are missed in my office sessions as I cannot magnify or zoom in on the cards as I can online.  There is just so much fabulous detail in each card, that I would be saddened if my clients missed them.
I would highly recommend SPARK cards for home practice of all the above-mentioned language skills. Even children working on articulation goals could utilize this product, especially those needing drills at the sentence/conversational level.  Specifically, the acronym SPARK stands for the following language probes embedded in each sequencing deck:
 
Sequencing and sentence formulation
Predicting, problem solving, picture interpretation
Analyzing and answering ‘WH’ questions (WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE)
Retelling a story and reasoning skills
Knowledge of basic concepts and vocabulary

This comprehensive, affordable product promotes improving language skills at home.  Since my original review, the developers launched more decks.  You can purchase your set at these links:
SPARK Junior (appropriate for children 3 years and older)

Teddy Talker: A Sensory Approach to Speech Sound Acquisition

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The Teddy Talker™ program is a multi-sensory approach to speech sound acquisition created by Linda Siciliano to promote phonics and early sound production in young children by stimulating auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic learning.  This program aids children in grasping mouth movements for sound production through engaging visuals and rhymes, fostering successful articulation. I received a free kit suitable for both individual and group therapy, allowing me to introduce you to this program effectively.

Contents

The Teach Together Toolkit allows me to create programming specific to each of my clients, which I can send home for carryover practice and instruction. These folders may contain some of the following:

  • Background information about the Teddy Talker program
  • Bear face and lips for coloring
  • Teddy’s tongue, teeth, and paper bag for modeling accurate placement
  • Teddy Talker™ Alphabet chart
  • Sound Assessment summary

Personalization

In my opinion, one of the most important products in the Teddy Talker program are the visual instructions. Since home practice supports speech sound acquisition progress, I send a blank Teddy face home with coloring instructions. I want my young clients to have some ownership for the program, which is why I instruct caregivers that scribbles or even a single line across the bear’s face are permissible. In addition to the teddy bear face, families need a sheet of various mouth visuals. It is important to be able to see these visuals clearly, so I have parents color the mouth pictures. After coloring, families return papers to my office for lamination and adding Velcro, allowing us to change Teddy’s face for sounds.


The colored alphabet chart pictured below came from the resource section of the Toolkit. I got a large, laminated copy for a visually challenged client. The alphabet chart is perfect for introducing speech sound targets.

Each child’s folder may also contain a consonant and vowel checklist for baseline collection to establish targets for programming.  As a parent, you may want to see your child’s progress and this checklist is a great way to track gains. 

Bear Tracks Card Deck

Besides the Toolkit, I was provided a Bear Tracks card deck, which would be a great resource for home practice! I use mine with children as young as 2.5 years old to assess strengths and needs in determining therapy programming. The card deck includes instructions for game play that your child may enjoy, so be sure to ask your speech pathologist if this would be a good investment.


Worksheets

My approach with Teddy Talker™ involves selecting a suitable speech sound target, then copying relevant tool pages for weekly practice. The Toolkit offers 13 adaptable tool pages for any speech sound and various activities such as drawing, coloring, writing, and listening. There are two types of worksheets in the Toolkit:  target pages and generic tool pages.  For my purposes, I started with the target pages using the following:

  • Build and Say:  tells you which lips to Velcro onto Teddy’s mouth and provides detailed sound cues
  • See and say:  focuses on Teddy’s face
  • Trace and say:  introduces muscle memory for target letters with one inch, bold faced capital and lower case letters
  • Rhyme and say:  great rhymes describing how to make target sounds

I’ve successfully used this program with children aged 2.5 to 6, addressing a range of speech delays, from mild articulation challenges to pre-verbal.

Below are pictures of some supplements in my speech materials collection that I have added to the program.  I believe that using a mix of materials helps generalize speech sound practice outside of the Teddy Talker program. I hope that this review helped share more information about this dynamic program created by a speech pathologist to make our lives easier! Happy talking!!

A to Z Coloring pages purchased on TpT from
Lavinia Pop titled:  Letter of the Week
Free bear rhyme from my local library about body parts on a bear 
Target dollar spot puzzles and Good-Night Owl book.
Both include animal sounds.



 

Helpful Ark Therapeutic Tools to Strengthen the Jaw

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Stabilizing the Jaw & Eliminating Sliding

The jaw is the foundation in the house of speech musculature.  Working on chewing helps improve jaw stability and strength to support both feeding and speech sound productions. Speech pathologists can help your child eliminate jaw sliding through speech therapy using a variety of oral motor tools. Before walking, infants must learn to crawl, developing muscles and coordination necessary for balancing and moving on two limbs. 

Young girl eating carrot

The same can be said for speech sound productions. Children who do not chew various textures and/or have motor speech delays may not appropriately develop a stable, supportive base for lip and tongue movements, so sometimes it is necessary to teach a child how to stabilize and strengthen the jaw. We do this through oral motor work using tools known as Grabbers. Thankfully, Ark Therapeutic has helpful tools we need to eliminate jaw sliding in speech therapy. Years ago, the owner sent me tools tailored to my caseload needs for a hands-on review, free of charge.

Grabbers: Eliminating Jaw Sliding in Speech Therapy

Oral Motor

Over the last two decades, I have purchased materials from Ark Therapeutic, who sell a large variety of Grabbers to assist with jaw stability, biting, chewing, and tongue coordination.  These tools are perfect for children who do not need gentle vibration, but benefit from any of the following:

  • Alternatives to chewing on hazardous non-food items
  • Decreasing grinding teeth and/or biting knuckles and fingers
  • Transitioning from pureed (pudding) to foods with more lumps/ textures
  • Increasing mouthing for feeding and/ or speech development
  • Improving lip and tongue control
  • Establishing the idea of biting and chewing
  • Strengthening the jaw in stability and control

There are several different types of Grabbers to meet your child’s needs from those with smooth narrow parts that suit tiny oral cavities to those with harder textures for older clients.  You can even purchase textured grabbers for additional mouth input.  Consult with your speech pathologist about the right match for your child.  

Z-Grabber for Increased Stimulation

The Z-Grabber is a vibrating chew tool that combines the best of both worlds, vibration (Z-Vibe) and chewing (Grabber) in one.  You can either use the loop end as a handle or for chewing exercises.  Your speech pathologist will use this vibrating option to provide more sensory input/information to support feeding and speech skills.  

Practice biting with a Z-Grabber: Place it on molars, do a 3-5 second bite and hold, 10 times on each side. You want to make sure that he is not tilting his head back to bite.  As children progress in their ability to hold that position without sliding the jaw, then I increase the challenge by gently tugging the Z-Grabber to provide an increased, jaw workout. 

The multi-functional Z-Grabber allows you to switch a variety of probe tips on the opposite end of the grabber portion.  With over 35 tips available, there is something for every child in various shapes, sizes, scents, textures, and resiliencies. Though various methods exist, I’ll offer only a few examples of jaw strengthening exercises using these tips.

Z-Grabber Tips for Jaw Work

Bite-n-Chew Tip: This tip is a great option for children who have a hard time starting with the Z-Grabber as it is smooth and more flexible.  Align this tip laterally on your child’s lower molars, then gently press down to lower the jaw and hold.  Tell you child to push up as you press down.  Repeat this exercise 3-5 times on each side.

Bite-n-Chew Tip XL:  This tip is an inch longer than the one above to help reach all the way back to the molars.  It is also available in a textured version if your child needs even more input.  Place either of these tips lengthwise along the molar surface one side at a time.  Next, move the tip front-to-back and back-and-forth across the molars for 3-5 reps per side.

Animal Tips: There are three, friendly shapes for this tip of a cat, mouse, or dog with any of them appropriate for feeding or jaw work.  You can perform similar jaw work as mentioned above using these tips.  The ears on each double as spoons!

While there are many options with and without vibration for working on improving jaw strength and stability, I hope that this post helped defined some of the basics.  Always consult with your child’s speech pathologist about the necessity of using oral motor products before making an investment.  

For more information on oral motor “wake up” routines that can be performed before feeding or speech practice, head to this post.

Excellent Expanding Expression Tool (EET) Visuals

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Complete EET kit

Expanding Expression Tool (EET) by fellow Speech Pathologist, Sara L. Smith, is a dynamic, multi-sensory approach for improving oral language and writing for students in kindergarten through high school. There are many reasons why you should use expanding expression tool visuals both in school and home.  Let’s take a closer look at the program and how I have incorporated it into my speech and language therapy practice.

Expanding Expression Tool Components

Just in case you have not seen an EET kit, here are the basic components:
First, you get the manual with the kit which includes five sections:  introduction, general descriptions, additional prompts, organizers, and parent program.  You will find baseline data sheets, worksheet activities for each descriptor bead, classroom prompts, student organizers, home activities, and much more in this manual.

EET

Included in the kit are two sets of beads, a large one for classroom instruction and one small strand for individual use.  The latter helps students become more independent with expressive language skills in a less conspicuous manner while still getting visual and tactile cues. Parents can purchase the smaller strand for home practice at this link. Basically, each bead represents a descriptor cue for target vocabulary and here is the breakdown:

  • Green=What Group does it belong to?
  • Blue=What does it Do? What is its Function?
  • Eyeball=What does it Look like?
  • Wood=What is it Made of?
  • Pink=What are its Parts?
  • White=Where can you Find it?
  • ?=What Else do I know about it?

Also included in the kit are picture cards with familiar objects, which you can break out for immediate EET practice.  Some of the cards include the EET coding, which is great for cuing students at their desk.  A few of the other cards in this deck offer lesson plan ideas.

The foam dice in the kit are perfect for playing games. Just roll the dice and answer the color-coded question about the target object.

Expanding Expression Tools in Action

Years ago, I used EET with a private language client who was in the fourth grade and received special education programming. She attended private speech and language sessions at my practice, Naperville Therapediatrics, twice weekly for 60 minutes. In August 2013, language testing revealed limited vocabulary use, reduced sentence structure, and delayed comprehension. While she did very well during discrete learning trials, she struggled with retaining and recalling information.  Her school special education team asked if I could help increase this student’s ability to use and comprehend vocabulary, especially homophones, so I researched the EET program to address these delays.

When I compared how this client responded at baseline to her responses while using the EET beads, she recalled a little more detail about each subject.  Here is one before/ after example taken recently after having covered worksheets for the following:  group, function, and “looks like.”

Tell me everything you know about Beluga Whales-

Baseline response on 1/7/2014:  
“It has sharp teeth and of course it has to eat fish.  Swallows fish.  It is a carnivore too because it likes to eat meat.  And it can make an echo.  If it’s danger and it makes sound.”

Halfway through program on 3/7/2014:
Animals (ocean/sea)
Swims underwater; moves its head (modeled demonstration); eats fishes; uses echolocation
White and Brown
Bones
It has little teeth.  They do not chew, they swallow.
See them at aquarium

Analysis

At baseline, she told me about it: group (carnivore), parts (teeth) and what it does (eats fish and echoes.)  Using the EET beads, she added a few more details about the following: what it does (moves head, swims underwater), what it looks like (white and brown), made of (bones), and where you may see them (aquarium.)  If we look at this data from a percentage standpoint, then she used 3/6 (50%) description points at baseline and 6/6 (100%) details with EET beads.  She increased the number of details provided in three other samples too.  Continued improvement was noted as we progressed through the workbook programming.

Expanding Expression Tool Seasonal Ideas

Since I’m a big fan of seasonal units and visual cuing, I thought it would be appropriate to take clip art and add lines to the image for EET description. Below are some of my ideas for each season/ holiday:

  • New Year’s party hat
  • Hot chocolate mug
  • Valentine cupcake
  • Basketball
  • Umbrella
  • Flower
  • Sun
  • Fireworks
  • Pail and shovel
  • Swimming pool
  • Leaf
  • Pumpkin
  • Turkey
  • Snowman
  • Christmas tree/ dreidel.

I am so appreciative of Sara’s efforts and hard work in designing this EET program.  For details on using EET to improve writing, you can visit my guest post by Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan. If you would like more information about the EET program, then click on the title links below for descriptions and ordering details:

Expanding Expressions Home Page

Toolkit

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