Oral Motor Guidelines

Issaquah Speech-Language Pathologists
 

Speech/language therapy is only provided in the context of educational impact; therefore, speech issues not affecting a student's educational performance are not provided within the context of therapy in public schools.

        Issaquah School District SLP's do not provide swallowing/feeding therapy; ie., dysphagia.  Therapy for swallowing and feeding for the specific purpose of improving swallowing and feeding are not the practice of ISD SLP's, as it is not considered to be related to a student's educational performance.

        Oral motor issues that affect speech articulation may be addressed for the purpose of improving speech intelligibility.  Exercises that focus on the facilitation of fine motor skills of the articulators: ie., tongue, the jaw, the soft palate, and lips are appropriate only as related to speech articulation remediation.

        Tongue thrust therapy is not addressed in public schools per ASHA (American Speech-Language Hearing Association) recommendations.  Tongue thrust issues are non-educational and, therefore, not within the scope of practice of SLP's in the public school setting.
 

Why your school Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) cannot provide tongue thrust therapy:

The speech therapy programs in the public schools are funded by state special education money.  For a student to receive SLP services there must be a qualifying communication handicap (disorders of speech, language, and/or hearing).

Even if there is a related speech problem, the school setting is not conducive to tongue thrust therapy.  Quite frequently, children with articulation disorders are seen in small groups while the more severe handicaps are given more time and individualization.

A successful tongue thrust therapy program requires parental involvement and direct, individualized attention from the therapist.  The student must be highly motivated and old enough to understand the importance and responsibility of a therapy program.