It is required to attend live to receive credit. Therefore, this offering will not be recorded. 

This introductory course to OPT (Oral Placement Therapy)​ is the foundation for TalkTools training and is integrated throughout all of our courses. OPT is a type of oral-motor therapy that targets specific movements needed for speech and feeding. The "3 parts" of OPT are: auditory and visual sensory systems COMBINED WITH tactile -- and propioceptive -- sensory systems. TalkTools training applies a unique, hierarchical approach to OPT, focused on a measurable, results-driven path for both therapists and clients across all ages and diagnoses with the goal of: 

• speech clarity
• improved feeding
• independence
• improved QUALITY OF LIFE

This interactive, hands-on course includes highly motivating activities targeting the abdomen, velum, jaw, lips and tongue. Techniques learned can be readily implemented across many therapy environments -- private practices, hospitals, schools and home.

◼️ For OPT™: Assessment and Program Plan Development

It is required to attend live to receive credit. Therefore, this offering will not be recorded. 

One of TalkTools' core courses, participants will learn how to perform a comprehensive evaluation for clients with sensory, feeding and/or speech disorders following the principles of Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson’s hierarchical approach to oral-motor assessment and treatment using the techniques learned in “3-Part Treatment Plan for OPT (Oral Placement Therapy).”

This course will lead you, step-by-step, through the assessment process used with clients of varying ages and skill levels who evidence oral placement deficits. Participants will observe via videos, two complete assessment sessions and follow up treatment with clients from infancy to adult, and will learn how to identify oral-motor deficits that effect speech production.

Development of therapeutic program plans designed specifically to meet each client’s oral placement needs will be addressed. A live evaluation will be performed on the second day allowing participants to observe client skills, record observations on an assessment form and develop a therapeutic plan from these results. We are sure you will leave this session with advanced skills in assessment and program plan development for each client with oral placement needs.

• Appropriately assess oral placement/feeding/speech problems based on muscle systems.
• Integrate hierarchies for motor dissociation and grading (jaw-lips-tongue).
• Plan programs of therapeutic intervention to address physiological and motor-based speech disorders.
• Apply at least 10 new therapy techniques.
• Properly use oral placement techniques to improve individual speech clarity and production.

For OPT™: Assessment and Program Plan Development, participants will be able to: 

• Identify oral placement, sensory, feeding and/or speech deficits in a variety of clients and diagnoses.
• Assess oral placement functioning of the jaw, lips, and tongue.
• Design a step-by-step program plan based on the client’s oral-motor feeding and speech evaluation results.
• Apply oral placement strategies, when appropriate, with infant, preschool, and school-aged children as a part of comprehensive speech and language therapy intervention.

• Monica Purdy, MA, CCC-SLP, COM®

Schedule for 3-Part Treatment Plan for OPT™

• Theories of Oral Placement (Muscle-Based) Therapy

• Oral Placement Therapy: The “why”, “when” and “who”

• Muscle movements necessary for speech clarity emergence or correction

• Oral Habits: Prolonged Thumb Sucking, Pacifier Usage, Teeth Grinding & Drooling

• Oral Habits: What is the Commonality and How Can They Be Eliminated

• Overview of Feeding and How It Effects Speech Clarity

• Treatment: Muscle-Based Exercises for Speech Clarity

• Activities to Improve Abdominal Grading and Breath Support

• Improving Velo-pharyngeal Functioning Using Muscle-Based, OPT Interventions

• Jaw Exercises - Stability in the Jaw is Necessary for Mobility in the Lips and Tongue

• Lip movements necessary for Speech Clarity

• Tongue movements for Speech Clarity

• Program Planning: Putting it All Together

Schedule for OPT™: Assessment and Program Plan Development

• Timed Agenda

Content Disclosure: This presentation will focus on treatment methods related to the use of TalkTools® resources. Other similar treatment approaches will receive limited or no coverage during this lecture.

TalkTools®️ is an AOTA Approved Provider of continuing education. Provider #: 5059. This virtual course qualifies for 12 contact hours or 1.2 CEUs in the Category of Occupational Therapy Process. The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA. Course Level: Intermediate.

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