Expert Tips on Doing Tongue Exercises For Speech Therapy
Expert Tips on Doing Tongue Exercises For Speech Therapy
Tongue exercises are an important part of speech therapy, and they can help people who struggle with areas such as articulation and pronunciation. If you’re looking to improve your communication skills, learn expert tips on how to do tongue exercises correctly for speech therapy. Click here for Tongue aerobics for children.
Warm Up the Tongue With Rolling Exercises
Start by warming up your tongue. Roll it around in a circular motion, or slide it back and forth in your mouth. Then, continue to practice rolling the tongue from one side of the mouth to the other. Keeping your tongue relaxed is important as you do these exercises to ensure proper technique. Consistently perform this warm-up several times each day for optimal results.
Practice Lateral Movements of the Tongue
After warming up the tongue, the next step is to practice lateral movements. This requires you to open your mouth and stretch your tongue out as far as it will go on one side— then do the same thing on the other. Keep your tongue extended when moving it from side to side and make sure to use gentle pressure. As you do this exercise, try saying speech sounds like “th” and “s” aloud for extra practice.
Strengthen the Tongue with Curl and Stretch Exercises
Once you’ve done lateral movements, you can start stretching and exercising your tongue in different ways. Start off with a curl exercise; this involves forming an “O” shape with your tongue and curling it so that the ends meet in the middle. Boldly move the tongue around like that for up to five seconds before releasing and returning to the starting position. Stretching exercises use the same principle, but instead of curling it, keep your tongue straight and stretched out as far as it will go for five seconds before returning to its resting position.
Increase Your Syllabic Range with Isolation Exercises
Isolation exercises are next in line regarding Mouth Exercises For Clear Speech for speech therapy. Place your tongue between your front teeth and say different two-syllable words, such as “grapes” or “Superman.” Feel how the tip of the tongue shifts between sounds. This can help you get used to different syllables while improving the control and positioning of your tongue with each one.
Work on Complex Movements by Combining Various Exercises
Once you have a basic understanding of tongue exercises, try combining different speech therapy techniques. If you’re having difficulty producing an S or F sound while placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth, practice this by using a tip exercise, then modifying it and adding additional sides to your mouth. Developing control over your tongue takes time, so use a combination of isolations and more complex exercises to strengthen muscles and improve coordination.
More tongue workout tips and practical ideas that work!
When you are performing the following exercise, the idea is to feel a stretch in your tongue ( not pain, just stretch). You should not eat or drink while doing these exercises. Take breaks while doing these exercises. Practice these thrice a day for the best results.
RANGE OF MOTION:
- Tongue Extension
- Stick your tongue out, far as you can.
- Hold your tongue steady and straight for 5 seconds.
- Relax and Repeat 5 times.
- Tongue Retraction
- Pull back your tongue as far as it will go. Imagine you are trying to touch the back of your tongue to the roof of your mouth (as if making a /k/ sound).
- Hold for 5 seconds.
- Relax and Repeat 5 times.
- Tongue Extension and Retraction
- Go back and forth between the two exercises above, and hold each position for 5 seconds.
- Relax and Repeat 5 times.
- Tongue Tip-Up
- Place your tongue on the bumpy area behind your top teeth.
- Open mouth as wide as possible with tongue tip firmly in place. Still, complete this exercise even if the tip of your tongue does not reach the top of your mouth.
- Hold for 5 seconds.
- Relax and Repeat 5 times.
- Tongue Side To Side
- Stick tongue out. Move your tongue tip to the left side of your mouth, and reach as far as it will go. Hold for 5 seconds.
- Move your tongue tip to the right side of your mouth, and reach as far as it will go. Hold for 5 seconds.
- Relax and Repeat 5 times.
Finally, many speech-language pathologists have developed their own tongue exercise programs, so you may want to consult us to learn more about what exercises would best meet your needs. Good luck!
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