Oral resting posture refers to the placement of your lips, tongue, teeth, and jaw while at rest during daily activities.
Why is oral resting posture important?
- Oral resting posture is important for facial structure development, appropriate airway development, effective breathing patterns, feeding/swallowing abilities, and speech sound production.
- Inappropriate oral resting posture can lead to sleep apnea, TMJ, improper facial structure development, and/or chewing and swallowing difficulties.
- For speech sound production, poor oral resting posture can cause reduced tongue tonicity (i.e., strength). Reduced tone of the tongue can affect several speech sounds. The sounds that are most commonly affected are T, D, N, L, Y, SH, CH, J, S, Z, R. You may see your child’s tongue stick out of their mouth when they say some of these sounds if they have decreased tone of their tongue.
- Decreased tone in the tongue and poor oral resting posture can also affect children’s eating habits. We rely on our tongue to move food and help us initiate a swallow. If a child has poor tone in their tongue, it can make it harder for the tongue to move food around in the mouth and push it down for a good swallow (without leaving any residue in the throat/mouth that can lead to choking).
What does appropriate oral resting posture look like?
- These are the things a speech therapist looks for when determining if a child has appropriate oral resting posture:
- Mouth is closed
- Lips are resting closed together
- Teeth are slightly parted or barely touching
- Tongue is resting, inside the mouth and on the roof of the mouth
- Breathing through the nose instead of mouth-breathing
What can affect development of an appropriate oral resting posture?
- Extended use of a pacifier
- Thumb-sucking
- Finger-sucking
- Drink cups (extended use of a bottle or spout cup)
- Enlarged tonsils/adenoids
- Chronic allergies
- Structural abnormalities (deviated septum, tongue/lip tie)
How to determine at home if your child may need an evaluation for oral resting posture:
- Is your child’s mouth open at rest?
- Is your child’s tongue out of their mouth at rest?
- Does your child breathe through their mouth instead of their nose?
- Is your child’s jaw shifted to one side?
- Does your child snore loudly like an adult?
- Does your child drool?
- If you answered yes to any of these questions, it is recommended that your child receive an oral-facial examination by a speech-language pathologist.
What does treatment look like?
- Treatment will begin with an assessment to determine which aspect of their speech/language is delayed in development.
- Depending on your concerns, the assessment would typically include the following:
- an examination of the mouth, lips, and tongue to determine strength, posture, and movement
- a speech sound assessment
- a feeding assessment
- a language assessment
- The clinician will also gather a detailed case history from you to determine if there are any contributing factors (pacifiers, thumb-sucking, cups, allergies, tonsils, tongue/lip tie, etc.) to your child’s current resting posture.
- Treatment will focus on teaching the child the appropriate tongue resting posture and working with the family to help the child maintain this posture throughout their day, until they are able to do so without support.
- If you think your child would benefit from an evaluation for oral resting posture, please reach out to us today!
Ashley Hill, MCD, CCC-SLP
References:
Hitos, S.F., Arakaki, R., Sole, Dirceu, Weckx, L.L.M. (2012). Oral breathing and speech disorders in children. J Pediatr (Rio J).
Gross, A.M., Kellum, G.D., Hale, S.T., Messer, S.C., Benson, B.A., Sisakun, S.L., Bishop, F.W. (1994). Myofunctional and dentofacial relationships in second grade children. The Angle Orthodontist, Vol. 60(4).
Hale, S.T., Kellum, G.D., Richardson, J.F., Messer, S.C., Gross, A.M., Sisakun, S. (1992). Oral motor control, posturing, and myofunctional variables in 8-year-olds. J of Sp and Hear Res, Vol 35.
Kent, R., (2015). Nonspeech Oral Movements and Oral Motor Disorders: A Narrative Review. Amer J of Sp-Lang Path, Vol 24.
Kellum, G.D., Gross, A.M., Walker, M., Foster, M., Franz, D., Michas, C., Bishop, F.W (1993). Open mouth posture and cross-sectional nasal area in young children. Int J Orofacial Myology. PMID: 9601229.