Speech Mamas: 3 Unique Tips for You
Speech therapists do an exceptional job (period, end of sentence!) at making therapy seem like pure fun. If you're looking for ways to continue the practice and improvement at home, there are plenty of fun things you can do without having to stock your home like a speech therapist's office. In fact, all of these unique tips do not require any speaking at all—just fun exercises for your child to work on building their oral muscles. Keep reading to learn more about how bubble play, straw-blow mazes, and oral development teethers are simple and fun, yet effective, ways to boost your child's speech therapy progress.
Bubble Play
Did you know that one of the things your child already loves doing—blowing bubbles—can be a huge boost to their speech therapy progress?
It's true: the simple act of repeated lip rounding is like giving your mouth a workout for the day. So grab your bubbles, sit out on the porch, and get practicing! You may even spark some words like Pop, Blow, and Wow.
The Spike bubble wand is specifically designed for toddlers, so you don't have to worry about those huge, flimsy, messy wands. All your little one needs to do is dip, twirl, and blow (yes, all by themselves!) for not only a fun speech therapy exercise, but for a confidence booster, too! Lip rounding and tongue cupping exercises are natural with our special bubble blower.
Bubble Play During Apraxia Therapy
According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, in order for speech to occur, messages need to go from your brain to your mouth.
These messages tell the muscles how and when to move to make sounds. When a child has apraxia of speech, the messages do not get through correctly. The child might not be able to move their lips or tongue in the right ways, even though their muscles are not weak.
Sometimes, the child might not be able to say much at all.
Enter: Bubble play during Apraxia Therapy! Such a fun and simple activity can be SO beneficial to your little one, especially if they are in speech therapy. Exercise those muscles, practice all the movements, and have fun, too!
Straw-Blow Mazes and Art
Similar to playing with bubbles, using straws is a simple and easy way to disguise speech therapy exercises as fun. Even just simply using straws as much as possible with water or during snack time with smoothies can make a huge difference!
You can also set up a fun straw-blow maze for your toddler to enjoy. Here's how:
- Grab some painter's tape
- Create a maze on a blank table or baking sheet
- Put a cotton ball or pom pom at the start and encourage your kiddo to blow it with a straw through the maze!
The goal with this fun game is not only to spark laughter and encourage speech, but to work on building breath support and lip rounding.
Another fun thing to do with straws is to create art. Here's what you need:
- Thick paper or canvas
- Liquid watercolors or watered-down washable paint
- Straw
Simply drop a small puddle of paint on the paper, hold the straw about an inch away from it, and blow to create crazy, abstract shapes. Your toddler will love moving the paint around with their breath!
Tip: If you're worried about your toddler sucking up paint into their mouth, poke a small pinhole halfway up the straw to break the suction.
Oral Development Teethers
Another simple way to boost your child's speech therapy progress is by simply handing them an oral development teether.
Yes, teether!
Teethers aren't just for babies. Chances are, your toddler still puts things in their mouth every now and again. Why not hand them something beneficial to their oral health?
Innobaby's oral development teethers encourage proper oral development in infants and help support speech therapy practice for toddlers. Lip rounding, tongue cupping, cheek exercises, and jaw exercises are all happening when playing with one of these.
Our teethers were specifically designed for this purpose—to support proper oral development. They are high-quality, durable, and super easy to clean and maintain.