Oral Placement Therapy

Oral Placement Therapy, created by Sara Rosenfeld Johnson, the founder of TalkTools®, has been integrated with conventional speech therapy methods at Rose's Speech Therapy for the past five years. Our experience indicates that this approach is highly effective in assisting children in transitioning from non-verbal states to producing sounds. Additionally, we have observed significant benefits in addressing feeding challenges and food sensitivities. The outcomes have been particularly remarkable for children diagnosed with Autism, Apraxia, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Developmental Delays, and various other childhood language disorders.

What is OPT ?

Oral Placement Therapy (OPT) is a specialized form of speech therapy that integrates three key elements:

(1) auditory stimulation

(2) visual stimulation

(3) tactile stimulation directed at the mouth to enhance speech clarity.

This therapy serves as a valuable complement to conventional speech treatment approaches for individuals experiencing placement and movement challenges. OPT employs a tactile-proprioceptive teaching method that supports traditional therapy, which predominantly focuses on auditory and visual cues. Individuals with motor and/or sensory difficulties gain significant advantages from the tactile and proprioceptive aspects of OPT, as speech production is fundamentally a tactile-proprioceptive process. The primary goals of OPT include improving awareness of articulators, enhancing placement (including dissociation, grading, and movement direction), fostering stability, and developing muscle memory—all essential components for achieving clear speech.

View Sara's video to gain further insights into OPT.

Who Can Benefit ?

OPT is applicable across a wide range of ages and abilities. It can be integrated into treatment plans for various speech disorders, including dysarthria, apraxia of speech, voice disorders, fluency disorders, and individuals recovering from a cerebrovascular accident (CVA), as well as those experiencing mild to profound hearing loss.

Many clients who could benefit from these techniques have previously undergone traditional auditory and visually based speech facilitation for several years, often with limited success. It is important to note that the challenges these clients face in producing target speech sounds are not due to any fault of their own.

The ineffectiveness of traditional speech facilitation for these clients may stem from underlying movement or placement disorders. Therefore, it is essential to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the client’s motor functions related to speech and feeding before implementing any OPT techniques.

How it Works ?

OPT provides instruction in oral structural placement for individuals who struggle to produce or imitate speech sounds through conventional auditory or visual methods. For these individuals, it is essential to enhance their ability to produce speech sounds by building on phonemes and other similar oral movements they can already execute.

Once a client successfully articulates a specific speech sound using traditional methods, speech therapy can advance in a more conventional manner. It is important to note that OPT represents only a fraction of a holistic speech and language program and should not be practiced in isolation. The selected activities are designed to encourage the same movements necessary for the targeted speech production. These exercises can be completed in less than 15 minutes and serve to redirect attention and concentration from a sensory processing standpoint.