Speech apraxia, lowered awareness of mouth/jaw--need advice

[Brownie~]

DS had been receiving speech therapy and OT for speech delay. He is 3 now and still drools constantly and mouths almost anything he can get his hands on, including his hands! OT says he has a lowered awareness of his mouth (he is diagnosed as low tone) and is craving sensory input in his mouth and jaw. We do a vibrating toothbrush for him, but what else can we do to stop him trying to chew on everything in sight? (He has since aged out of EI.) Thanks so much!

[2boyzmama]

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en...ed=0CCUQzAMwAA

We have this for our 3yr old son with apraxia/oral motor issues/dysphagia. He loves it! Incidentally, so does our 8 month old

There's also chewelry. I've never tried it, but I've heard of many kids really loving it.

[Brownie~]

Thanks! I am definitely going to give this a try!

[SpottedFoxx]

If it makes you feel any better, my son (who's now 5) has dyspraxia of speech, was big time drooler (we'd say we need to find the off valve for his faucet), has grown out of the drooling. Keep up with the speech therapy, it really makes a HUGE difference.

Our ST and OT taught my son a hand signal (finger to lips) to remind him to close his mouth. For my son, that was a big cause of his drooling. When his mouth is open, his draw drops forward and causes him to excessively drool.

[momtoalexsarah]

My DD used to drool constantly, she has/had poor oral motor control. She dosn't drool much now unless she gets talking alot and trying new words/sounds then she "looses control" of the functions to keep the drool in. ST used to consist of spending as much time wipeing her chin as it did getting her to say a word. ST does make a huge difference - but it takes time. We still get drool and we don't make a big deal of it, nobody ever has. They know that drool and Megan and goopy nose and Megan go together - you keep the klenex box handy

[~cassie]

http://www.superduperinc.com/product....aspx?stid=186
I got some of these the other day to help with my 5 yr old since he is always chewing on things--either his hands or his shirt/blanket. But our ST also asked us to use them with our 3 yr old to help strengthen his mouth(low tone also).

[Brownie~]

Thanks, cassie. Does your son initiate chewing on them himself, or do you do it with him, like in the picture in the link you posted?

[~cassie]

We do both. My oldest son initiates it as he needs a lot of oral stimulation. My youngest with the low oral tone is not really a big chewer, so I do initiate with him and do it on both sides and have him bite down on it and all that, but once he sees his brother chewing on his, he will chew on his also for a bit. You just want to do both sides evenly to strengthen both sides of the jaw-at least that is what our ST told us to do.

[Brownie~]

Originally Posted by 2boyzmama

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en...ed=0CCUQzAMwAA

We have this for our 3yr old son with apraxia/oral motor issues/dysphagia. He loves it! Incidentally, so does our 8 month old

There's also chewelry. I've never tried it, but I've heard of many kids really loving it.

The vibrating star teether arrived yesterday finally from Amazon. So far he seems to like it and I have been directing him to it whenever I see a toy or his fingers in his mouth. I think that ordering the knobby tubes is a good idea too, since the teether he can't get into the back farthest part of his mouth. Thanks again for the awesome recommendations!