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Continuing education conferences for therapists

Oral Motor Sensory Courses

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Approximately 39% of children with developmental disabilities have been described as having severe feeding problems. The prevalence of oral motor problems in CP is 68–90% (Kc Min et al., 2022) which also manifests with speech difficulty and drooling. In their 2016 paper, Gokce and Selim reported oral motor impairment in 16.2% of children with feeding disorders.

Recent clinical work with children who have sensory processing/developmental dysfunction has revealed a strong association between subtle oral-motor and respiratory dysfunction and many sensory integrative and sensory-motor problems. It is in the best interest of professionals and caregivers to learn more about oral motor sensory input and receive practical strategies and exercises to utilize.

Upcoming Oral Motor Sensory Courses

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NBCOT - National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy
AOTA (American Occupational Therapist Association) CEU

What are Oral Motor Sensory skills?

Oral motor skills are the movements of the muscles of and within the mouth. The skills involve the use of the lips, tongue, cheeks, jaw, and hard and soft palates in speaking, and in feeding-related tasks such as sucking, biting, chewing, crunching, licking, blowing and swallowing. 

Oral sensory input refers to a child’s ability to bite, chew, suck, and blow. These skills require our tactile, proprioceptive and interoceptive sensory systems. Children that have poor proprioception and interoception struggle to process their sensory systems. This can cause incorrect messages to be sent to the muscles in one’s oral sensory system and can lead to children biting and chewing. Biting and chewing are effective ways for a child and/or adult to help self-regulate and support task performance. We all have sensory preferences toward a sensory modality that includes a need to chew, suck or bite on something with different intensity levels. Children with autism have been noted to chew as a common sensory need.


The courses are suitable for:

  • Occupational Therapists and Occupational Therapist Assistants
  • Physical Therapists
  • Speech Therapists
  • Special Education Providers
  • Parents/Caregivers

Theramoves offers accredited trainings on oral motor sensory development for therapists and professionals.

Examples of oral motor exercises for toddlers & kids

  • drinking from a water bottle
  • resistive sucking through a straw
  • blowing bubbles with a wand or into a bucket of water with a little bit of soap for bubble mountain
  • chewing large pieces of gum
  • having a snack with crunchy foods
  • sucking on hard candy among others
  • using a vibrating toothbrush
  • encourage children to use mouth toys such as whistles, harmonica, kazoo etc.
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FAQS

In many sensory diets, children will get oral motor strategies to help them self-regulate.

Sucking

Sucking is a primary oral motor skill in children, usually observed during breast or bottle feeding, where it is of nutritional value. To increase stability, the child has to keep sucking, increasing the strength of their oral musculature. Other than for nutritional value, children also suck for self-regulation and relaxation. There is a strong relationship of the suck/ swallow/breathe synchrony to behavior, learning, postural development, feeding, communication, arousal, self-regulation, psychosocial development and even common health issues in children

Drinking using a straw also requires sucking; for the fluid to get into the straw and the mouth, a vacuum is created by sucking on the straw to pull the juice up. Straw drinking is the oldest way to calm and de-stress the body and brain!

Biting and chewing

Besides nutritional purposes, biting and chewing have also been used as self-regulating techniques. It provides children with both tactile (touch) and deep pressure (proprioception) input to the jaw and mouth. When a child is stressed, giving a child for example large pieces of chewing gum or frozen sliced grapes can help self-regulate and calm the nervous system down.

Failure to provide oral motor sensory input when it is required can cause:

  • Decreased self-regulation and arousal 
  • Reduced suck/ swallow/breathe synchrony
  • Impacts upon behavior, learning, psychosocial development
  • Impacts on postural development
  • Increased drooling
  • Difficulty with articulation and communication

Oral motor skills such as chewing, and biting various objects are used for self-regulation/ relaxation in children and for better focusing on tasks. There is a significant association between subtle oral-motor and respiratory dysfunction and many sensory integrative and sensory-motor problems. You may be surprised to learn that there is a strong relationship between the suck/ swallow/breathe synchrony to behavior, learning, postural development, feeding, communication, arousal, self-regulation, psychosocial development, and even common health issues in children. Our courses will cover oral motor exercises for kids and much more.

After you have placed an order for oral motor CEU courses, you will receive a Thank you email with FAQ’s that will include all the information for the upcoming course.
● You will also receive a payment receipt via email.
● 2-4 days prior to the live webinar you will receive an email from Theramoves which will contain
a link for the platform the course will be using such as Go To Webinar to complete the
registration process, please go ahead and complete that.
● The email will also contain the course PowerPoint and any additional handouts.

If you are using an I-Device once you download go to webinar or go to meeting, please restart your device.

  • Once you registered with our online platform (Go To Webinar) you will receive a link to “Join the Webinar”. This link comes again an hour before the webinar.  
  • Join the course at the designated date and time.
  • We ask that you join 15-20 minutes prior to ensure proper access and avert any technical issues, then go ahead and make coffee 🙂

  • For CEU purposes, our system automatically logs your attendance when you sign in for a webinar and log out. (If you have technical difficulties and have to sign back on, do not panic! No worries the system recognizes that).  
  • At the end of the webinar, an email is sent out with the post-course quiz/course evaluation and learning outcome measure on the material presented.
  • Please check your spam/promotions folders as it may inadvertently end up there.
  • Congratulations! Score a 70% or higher and receive your certificate of completion via email.

A full refund less $75 dollars administrative fee per course will be given for cancellations received up to 3 days prior to the oral motor online course. After that, no refunds will be given for cancellations unless a replacement participant is registered.

Oral motor sensory skills are an essential assessment in a child’s development and milestones attainment. Theramoves offers online courses sharing exercises to improve oral motor skills that can help children and adults achieve a calmer state.

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