Posted by Casey Roy on
The 2018 ASHA Convention was held last week in Boston, MA. The TalkTools team had such an amazing time meeting new people, catching up with old friends, and most importantly - teaching about Oral Placement Therapy.
This year at ASHA, we celebrated the launch of our newest book, Functional Assessment and Remediation of TOTs (Tethered Oral Tissues), co-authored by Robyn Merkel-Walsh, MA, CCC-SLP and Lori Overland, MS, CCC-SLP, C/NDT, CLC.
Posted by Admin TalkTools on
by Robyn Merkel-Walsh, MA, CCC-SLP
There is constant discussion on social media regarding orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMDs) and scope of practice. Pediatric feeding therapy and orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT) overlap but require specific training for each skill set. There is confusion and disagreement among professionals regarding scope...
Posted by Casey Roy on
This is a repost from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), with permission from the author.
I was happy to read Melanie Potock’s recent blog, “Three Structures in a Child’s Mouth That Can Cause Picky Eating.” The post sparked a considerable amount of discussion on social media. I also appreciated ASHA’s response about professional experiences, and the value they bring to our profession. I have several thoughts on this blog regarding evidence-based practice and tethered oral tissues (TOTs).
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Posted by Deborah Grauzam on
This poster was presented at the 2017 annual American Speech-Language & Hearing Association, Saturday, November 11, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
"Functional Assessment of Feeding Challenges in Children with Ankyloglossia"
Authors: Robyn Merkel-Walsh, MA, CCC-SLP & Lori Overland, MS, CCC-SLP, C/NDT, CLC
Click here to view the full poster
Introduction:
Presentation explores 1) current classification systems for ankyloglossia; 2) functional assessment of ankyloglossia; 3) oral sensory-motor feeding challenges associated with ankyloglossia and 4) implications for treatment.
Discussion:
Ankyloglossia is not a newly discovered condition, and about 3% of infants are born with a tongue-tie (Amir, James, & Donath, 2006). The International Association of Tongue-Tie Professionals (IATP) adds that tongue-tie is an embryological remnant of tissue in the mid-line between the under-surface of the tongue and the floor of the mouth that restricts normal tongue movement (IATP, 2016). Three terms are being used synonymously to identify this condition: 1) Ankyloglossia 2) Tongue-Tie and 3) Tethering of Oral Tissues (TOTS). Tethering of Oral Tissues (TOTS) is a fairly new term that was coined by Kevin Boyd, DDS at the International Association of Tongue-tie Professionals at their annual conference in Quebec, Montreal Canada in October of 2014. TOTS as a term is more inclusive of tissue restriction of the tongue, lips and buccal frena (Boyd, 2014). The terms do not seem to be committed to one field of specialty, but the ICD10 coding system introduced in October 2015 is still only using one label for this condition, ankyloglossia (ASHA, 2015).
Over the past few years, this topic has been more frequently discussed in the fields of lactation, speech pathology, oral surgery, orofacial myology and otolaryngology. In a clinical study, lactation consultations, otolaryngologists, speech pathologists and pediatricians were surveyed on their beliefs regarding the impact of ankyloglossia on feeding. 69 percent of lactation consultants, but a minority of physician respondents, believe tongue-tie is frequently associated with oral feeding problems (Messner & Lalakea, 2000).
There have been several professionals who have published tongue-tie classification tools such as: Alison Hazelbaker, Lawrence Kotlow and Carmen Fernando. The International Affiliation of Tongue-Tie Professionals (IATP) cautions that classification can never substitute for assessment because classification develops categories based on broad, general criteria whereas assessment uses specific, detailed criteria for the purpose of accuracy and thoroughness (IATP, 2016). Researchers are collecting evidence on the histological characteristics of the frenulum (de Castro Martinelli, Marchesan, Gusmao, de Castro Rodrigues & Berretin-Felix, 2014); however, many professionals cannot agree on a classification system or diagnostic protocol to uniformly label the anomaly.
Despite these classifications systems, there does not seem to be a comprehensive assessment protocol to date that specifically task analyzes function for all stages of feeding skills. The Lingual Frenulum Protocol for Infants provides quick functional assessments for infants who breast and/or bottle feed. The Lingual Frenulum Protocol provides a general functional assessment of feeding and speech skills. These tools assist in determining whether or not a frenulum release is warranted, but do give clinical implications for treatment (Martinelli, Marchesan & Berretin-Felix, 2012).
Functional assessment of ankyloglossia considers not only the structure, but the impact on lingual range of motion specifically for the pre-feeding skills required for all stages of feeding. Range of motion observations should include: lip closure as it relates to cup drinking and spoon feeding; lip protrusion as it relates to the breast, bottle and spoon; lip rounding as it relates to straw drinking; lingual retraction as it relates to oral transport of a
liquid or bolus; intraoral lateralization as it relates to chewing; and transporting a bolus and tongue tip elevation as it relates to swallowing (Overland & Merkel-Walsh, 2013). Assessment strategies will be dependent on the age of the child, cognitive ability and motor planning ability.
Conclusion:
In summary, the assessment of ankyloglossia should not be limited to appearance alone. Oral motor skills including pre-feeding and feeding should be task analyzed. Since there is conflicting views on whether or not ankyloglossia should be surgically corrected, assessment must clearly consider the functional impact of the tongue-tie on feeding challenges (AABM, 2016; Ferres-Amat, Pastor-Vera, Ferres-Amat, Mareque-Bueno, Prats-Armengol & Ferres-Padro, 2016; Francis, Chinnadurai, Morad, Epstein, Kohanim, Krishnaswami, Sathe & McPheeters, 2015; Kummer, 2016; Merdad & Mascarenhas, 2010;
Sethi, Smith, Kortequee, Ward & Clarke, 2013).
References:
American Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (AABM). (2016). Protocol # 11: Guidelines for the evaluation and management of neonatal ankyloglossia and its complications in the breastfeeding dyad. Retrieved from: http://www.bfmed.org/Media/Files/Protocols/ankyloglossia.pdf
Amir, L.H., James, J.P. & Donath, S.M. (2006). Reliability of the Hazelbaker assessment tool for lingual frenulum function. International Breastfeeding Journal, 1(3).
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2015). ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Codes for Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Preparing for Implementation. Retrieved from: http://www.asha.org/Practice/reimbursement/coding/ICD-10/
Boyd, K. (2014). Impact of tongue-tie over a lifetime: an anthropological perspective. Presentation at the IATP 2nd World Summit. Montreal, Quebec.
de Castro Martinelli, R.L., Marchesan, I.Q., Gusmao, R.J., de Castro Rodrigues, A. & Berretin-Felix, G. (2014). Histological characteristics of altered human lingual frenulum. International Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health, 2, 5-9.
Ferres-Amat, E., Pastor-Vera, T., Ferres-Amat, E., Mareque-Bueno, J., Prats-Armengol, J. & Ferres-Padro, E. (2016). Multidisciplinary management of ankyloglossia in childhood. Treatment of 101 cases. A protocol. Journal of Oral Medicine and Pathology, 1:21 (1):39-47
Francis, D.O., Chinnadurai, S., Morad, A., Epstein, R.A., Kohanim, S., Krishnaswami, S., Sathe, N.A. & McPheeters, M.L. (2015). Treatments for ankyloglossia and ankyloglossia with concomitant lip-tie. Comparative Effectiveness Reviews, No. 149. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK299120/.
International Affiliation of Tongue-Tie Professionals (2016). Classification. Retrieved from: http://tonguetieprofessionals.org/about/assessment/classification/
Kummer, A. (2016). To clip or not to clip? That’s the question. Presented at the annual convention of The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Philadelphia, PA.
Martinelli, R.L., Marchesan, I.Q., & Berretin-Felix, G. (2012). Lingual Frenulum Protocol with Scores for Infants. International Journal of Orofacial Myology, 38, 104-113.
Merdad, H. & Mascarenhas, A.K. (2010). Ankyloglossia may cause breastfeeding, tongue mobility, and speech difficulties, with inconclusive results on treatment choices. Journal of Evidence-Based Dental Practice, 10(3):152-3.
Messner, A.H. & Lalakea, M.L. (2000). Ankyloglossia: controversies in management. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 54(2):123-31.
Overland, L. & Merkel-Walsh, R. (2013). A sensory-motor approach to feeding. Charleston, SC: TalkTools.
Sethi N., Smith D., Kortequee S., Ward V.M. & Clarke S. (2013). Benefits of frenulotomy in infants with ankyloglossia. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 77(5): 762-5.
Posted by Deborah Grauzam on
“The conversation for tongue tie in the speech pathology community is growing louder among some groups of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) (ASHA Leader, 2015). An ASHA literature search has suggested a correlation between tongue ties and difficulty producing lingual alveolar phonemes (Merkel-Walsh & Jahn, 2014). Furthermore, Eschler, Klein, and Overby (2010) indicated that SLPs’ diagnostic criteria, treatment, goals, and discharge criteria for ankyloglossia differ depending on comorbid behavior (i.e., SSDs or feeding/swallowing difficulty).
Recently, there is a rise in the identification of posterior tongue ties in infants who are having trouble feeding and toddlers/adolescents who are exhibiting continuous speech sound errors despite years of speech-language pathology services. Posterior ankyloglossia is characterized by a thickened frenulum (Type III) or a submucosal frenulum visualized as a flat, broad mound absent of any typical protruding frenular tissue, and restricts movement at base of tongue (Type IV) (Kutlow, 2011).”
Meaux, A., Savage, M., & Gonsoulin, C. presented the poster “Tongue Ties and Speech Sound Disorders: What Are We Overlooking?” at the 2016 Annual ASHA Convention, November 17-19 in Philadelphia, PA.
Authors: Ashley Meaux, PhD, CCC-SLP, Meghan Savage, PhD, CCC-SLP, & Courtney Gonsoulin, MA, CCC-SLP
