What are they?
What are some signs or symptoms of OMD?
What causes OMD ?
- Allergies
- Enlarged tonsils and adenoids
- Excessive thumb or finger sucking, lip and fingernail biting, lip picking, and teeth clenching and grinding
- Family heredity
Allergies can cause problems with the functioning of the mouth or face muscles. For children with allergies, it is often hard to breath normally through the nose because of nasal airway blockage. They often breath with their mouths open, tongues lying flat on the bottom of their mouths. Lip muscles may lose their strength and tone if an open-mouth posture continues for a long time.
Enlarged tonsils and adenoids can block airways, causing an open-mouth breathing pattern. This pattern can become habit forming and continue even after medical treatment for the blocked airway is received.
Excessive thumb or finger sucking, lip and fingernail biting, lip picking, and teeth clenching and grinding can result in OMD. Constant thumb sucking in particular may change the shape of the child’s upper and lower jaw and teeth, requiring speech, dental, and orthodontic intervention. The effect of the problem depends on how often and how long the oral habit is practiced.
Family heredity can be involved in determining the size of a child’s mouth, the arrangement and number of teeth, and the strength of the lip, tongue, mouth, and facial muscles.
What effect does OMD have on speech ?
Some children produce sounds incorrectly as a result of OMD. OMD most often causes sounds like “s”,”z”, “sh”, “zh”, “ch” and “j” to sound differently. For example, the child may say “thumb” instead of “some” if they produce an “s” like a “th”. Also, the sounds “t”, “d“, “n“, and “l“ may be produced incorrectly because of weak tongue tip muscles. Sometimes speech may not be affected at all.
How is OMD diagnosed ?
- A dentist
- An orthodontist
- A physician
- A speech-language pathologist (SLP)
What we can do...
Therapies for Kids does not currently have a Speech Pathologist who is qualified to treat this condition.
A speech-language pathologist (SLP) with experience and training in the treatment of OMD will evaluate and treat the following:
- Open-mouth posture
- Speech sound errors
- Swallowing disorders
- Develop a treatment plan to help your child change their oral posture and articulation
If tongue movement during swallowing is a problem, the SLP will address this as well.
Treatment techniques to help both speech and swallowing problems caused by OMD may include the following:
- Increasing awareness of mouth and facial muscles
- Increasing awareness of mouth and tongue postures
- Improving muscle strength and coordination
- Improving speech sound productions
- Improving swallowing patterns
- Develop a treatment plan to help your child change their oral posture and articulation
