We provide speech therapy online for children, adolescents and adults with tongue tie.
We are a registered NDIS provider and use an inclusive approach to therapy, where the person can be in the comfort and familiarity of their own home.
How can speech therapy benefit people with tongue tie?
Speech therapy can be highly beneficial for individuals with tongue tie (ankyloglossia), a condition where the band of tissue connecting the tongue to the floor of the mouth is shorter or tighter than normal. This can affect tongue mobility, leading to challenges with speech, eating, and oral hygiene. Here are several ways speech therapy can help:
1. **Improving Tongue Functionality**: Speech therapists can work on exercises that enhance the mobility of the tongue, promoting better movement patterns that are essential for clear speech production.
2. **Articulation Therapy**: Many individuals with tongue tie experience difficulties pronouncing certain sounds. Speech therapy can focus on articulatory placement and strategies to produce sounds more clearly, such as /t/, /d/, /l/, and /s/.
3. **Oral-Motor Skills Development**: Speech therapy can also involve activities that strengthen oral-motor skills. These skills are critical for both speech and feeding, ensuring the individual can articulate words correctly and manage different textures while eating.
4. **Compensatory Strategies**: If certain sounds are particularly difficult to produce due to tongue tie, a speech therapist can provide alternative strategies to compensate for these challenges, helping individuals communicate more effectively.
5. **Enhancing Feeding Skills**: For infants and young children, tongue tie can impact breastfeeding or bottle-feeding. Speech therapists can assist in improving feeding techniques and transitioning to solid foods.
6. **Education and Awareness**: Speech therapists can educate parents and caregivers about tongue tie, its implications, and the potential need for further evaluation by other professionals, such as dentists or oral surgeons.
7. **Targeting Social Communication**: Communication is not just about speech sounds; it also involves social skills. Speech therapy can help individuals develop effective communication skills in social settings, enhancing their overall confidence and interaction abilities.
8. **Support Pre- and Post-Surgical Intervention**: For some individuals, surgical options may be considered to release the tongue tie. Speech therapy can provide preoperative counseling and post-operative therapy to ensure optimal recovery and function.
Overall, speech therapy tailored to the unique needs of individuals with tongue tie can significantly improve their communication abilities and overall quality of life.
Services for children, adolescents and adults
We have speech therapists who work with children, adolescents and adults, and we have therapists who have experience with tongue tie. Read more about our therapists here.
NDIS registered provider
We are a registered NDIS provider and work with self-managed, plan-managed and agency-managed clients.
If your are an NDIS provider or support coordinator we can provide reliable speech therapy for clients with tongue tie in any location. Refer a client and we’ll connect you to the right clinician.
Is online speech therapy effective?
Yes! A growing body of evidence shows that online delivery of therapy can be as effective as face to face. Online therapy has many other benefits too, including being convenient and accessible for people in regional and rural areas.
How does online speech therapy work?
At Umbo online therapy is not just zoom plus business-as-usual. It’s much more diverse than simply videoconferencing. Umbo therapists provide an individualised approach to each person, using the latest evidence, and a variety of technologies and engagement techniques.
Umbo champions person-centred therapy. It means the person and their family/support people leads the conversation. We believe that the most effective therapy occurs when support is given in the environment where the person lives, learns, works or plays. Therefore we work with the family, and teach skills to you or to other supporters. This means you’re achieving real-life goals, rather than just achieving goals in a clinic.
We are a certified social enterprise helping Australian families access allied health services.