What are non speech oral motor exercises
John Johnson
Updated on April 15, 2026
Non-speech oral-motor exercises (NSOMEs) refer to oral activities that are believed to influence speech production without actually executing speech (Forrest, 2002). They include activities like lateral tongue sweeps, pursing and puckering of lips, puffing of cheeks, blowing, and sucking.
What are non speech oral motor exercises used for?
Nonspeech oral motor exercises (NSOME) are techniques that do not involve speech production but are used to influence speaking abilities. These often include blowing bubbles and horns, tongue pushes/wags/curling, pucker/smile movements and other mouth gymnastics18.
What are oral exercises?
Oral-motor exercises are specialised exercises which aim to improve the strength, control and coordination of the oral muscles (tongue, lips, vocal folds and the jaw). Oral-motor exercises are used in therapy by consistently practising exercises in a drill like manner.
Why are non speech oral motor exercises not recommended as part of speech therapy?
That is, no speech sound requires the tongue tip to be elevated toward the nose; no sound is produced by puffing out the cheeks; no sound is produced in the same way as blowing is produced. Oral movements that are irrelevant to speech movements will not be effective as speech therapy techniques.Do oral motor exercises help articulation?
The primary reasons that these exercises do not change speech sound productions are: task specificity that makes these exercises ineffective; and. oral motor exercises do not increase strength for speech as many clinicians claim.
When do you use effortful swallow?
Patients who have a lot of saliva or mucus in the throat and feel that they can’t swallow can use this technique to try to get the saliva down. If someone is having trouble swallowing saliva (secretions), I usually pair this exercise with visual reminders to practice this often.
How can I strengthen my baby's mouth muscles?
- Cheek circles (gently move cheeks in circular motion, and inward to make “fishy lips”. Repeat x5.
- Over the ears and under the jaw. ( …
- Trace top lips and bottom lips with finger (“applying chapstick”) x5.
- Trace down from nose to lip to chin.
Do oral motor exercises work for dysphagia?
The short answer is, no, there is not much available evidence that strongly supports the claim that oral motor exercises lead to improved swallowing. However, a lack of evidence does not mean there is no benefit from performing these exercises.What are non speech movements?
Definition of Nonspeech Oral Movements The following general definition is proposed: NSOMs are motor acts performed by various parts of the speech musculature to accomplish specified movement or postural goals that are not sufficient in themselves to have phonetic identity.
What is dysarthria Asha?Dysarthria is a speech disorder caused by muscle weakness. It can make it hard for you to talk. People may have trouble understanding what you say. Speech-language pathologists, or SLPs, can help.
Article first time published onWhat are oral motor activities?
Oral motor skills include awareness, strength, co-ordination, movement and endurance of the mouth; jaw, tongue, cheeks and lips. All references to child or children mean either a child or young person.
What are oral motor programs?
Oral motor exercises are specialized workouts that seek to enhance the oral muscles’ control, coordination, and strength. Oral motor exercises work in speech therapy as a continuous process. Both adults and children can benefit from oral-motor activities.
Are there tongue exercises?
Tongue Exercises Place the tip of your tongue against the back of your top front teeth. Slowly slide your tongue backward with the tip moving along the roof of your mouth. Repeat 5-10 times. Purpose of exercise: This strengthens your tongue and throat muscles.
How can I strengthen my mouth muscles for speech?
- Lip Press. Press lips tightly together for 5 seconds. Relax and Repeat 5 times.
- Lip Press on Tongue Depressor. Tightly press lips around tongue depressor, while the clinician tries to remove it. Perform for 3 to 5 seconds. Relax and Repeat 5 times.
- Puff Cheeks.
Are oral motor exercises evidence based practice?
Conclusion. Despite their use for many years and their popularity among some SLPs for the treatment of a wide variety of speech problems in children and adults, NSOMTs are controversial because sufficient evidence does not exist to support their effectiveness in improving speech.
How do you strengthen your speech?
Put something flat like a spoon or tongue depressor on your tongue. Push against your tongue with the flat object, and push your tongue against the object. Hold for a couple of seconds. Repeat 5 times.
How do you stimulate a sucking reflex?
Touch the baby’s cheek with a finger, moving toward his/her lips. Then brush his/her lips a few times with a clean index finger (the fingernail should be trimmed) to encourage him/her to open his/her mouth.
Do babies grow out of high palate?
The palate is flexible and moveable at birth but will harden over time. Palatal development and shape are significantly influenced by the placement of the baby’s tongue at rest and during breastfeeding.
How do you get a lazy baby to latch on?
Some babies latch on by themselves if you lean back and relax in a warm bath together, baby on your chest. Use a baby sling or carrier to keep your baby close between feedings. Keep the process happy. Play at nursing rather than working at nursing.
Why is chin tuck dysphagia?
A speech and language therapist has assessed your swallow and has advised you to practice the ‘chin tuck swallow’. Why? This position increases space at the back of the throat where food and drink can wait before you swallow. This reduces the risk of it going down the wrong way before you are ready to swallow.
What is the Shaker exercise for dysphagia?
The Shaker exercise is a head lift designed to increase anterior movement of the hyolaryngeal complex and opening of the upper esophageal sphincter.
What does the effortful swallow target?
Main findings indicated that the effortful swallow generated greater pressures in the tongue-to-palate, pharynx, upper esophageal sphincter, and esophageal regions.
What is non speech auditory interface?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Non-speech audio input is the use of non-speech sounds such as whistling, humming or hissing for entering data or controlling the user interface.
What is the purpose of the Asha practice portal?
The goal of ASHA’s Practice Portal is to facilitate clinical decision making and increase practice efficiency for audiologists and speech-language pathologists by providing resources on clinical and professional topics and linking to available evidence. Learn more about our content development process.
What are Diadochokinetic rates?
The DDK rate measures how quickly you can accurately repeat a series of rapid, alternating sounds called “tokens.” They’re designed to test how well you can make sounds with different parts of your mouth, tongue, and soft palate. The tokens contain one, two, or three syllables, such as: “puh”
How do you make your tongue talk clearly?
- Put you lips loosely together and exhale by vibrating your lips.
- Make sure to keep your tongue relaxed as you exhale.
- Repeat the inhaled yawn, and vocalize as you trill your lips.
- Repeat again, and sweep up in pitch then back down.
What causes weak esophagus muscles?
Some of the causes of esophageal dysphagia include: Achalasia. When the lower esophageal muscle (sphincter) doesn’t relax properly to let food enter the stomach, it can cause food to come back up into the throat. Muscles in the wall of the esophagus might be weak as well, a condition that tends to worsen over time.
What are the 6 types of dysarthria?
There are six major types of dysarthria: flaccid dysarthria associated with lower motor neuron impairment, spastic dysarthria associated with damaged upper motor neurons linked to the motor areas of the cerebral cortex, ataxic dysarthria primarily caused by cerebellar dysfunction, and hyperkinetic dysarthria and …
What is the difference between dysarthria and apraxia?
People who live with apraxia have difficulty putting words together in the correct order or ‘reaching’ for the correct word while speaking. Dysarthria occurs when a patient’s muscles do not coordinate together to produce speech.
What is the difference between dysarthria and dysphonia?
Dysarthria is caused by neurologic damage to the motor components of speech, which may involve any or all of the speech processes, including respiration, phonation, articulation, resonance, and prosody. Dysphonia refers to disordered sound production at the level of the larynx, classically seen as hoarseness.
What is Beckman oral motor therapy?
The Beckman Oral Motor Protocol is an intervention that utilizes assisted movement and stretch reflexes to activate muscle contraction, build strength and improve range of motion in the lips, jaw, tongue and soft palate.