ST & Swallow Therapy

We have now added speech therapy and swallow therapy to our busy agenda.

Our speech therapist, Lindy (from Sooner Start), comes to the house to work with Cole every other Tuesday. She is awesome! You would think, because of the name of it, that this therapy would be for speech, right? Well, Lindy does so much more.

In ST we do work on Cole's speech...at least the long term goal is to help him to be able to speak. Their are so many small steps before learning to speak. Just forming the mouth to make simple sounds and learning to use the tongue. We are introducing Cole to ASL (American Sign Language). This will be great for Cole even if he learns to speak with no problems.

Lindy suggested a swallow study be done to make sure whatever we put into Cole's mouth will go down properly and with no blockages. She wanted to make sure he didn't get any fluid in his lungs and see why he chokes any time we try to give him new foods.

We made an appointment at Mercy Hospital and had the swallow study. Luckily, everything went down the way it should. We met Amy, his swallow therapist, and she said she felt it was more of a sensory issue. Cole doesn't like new/different textures in his mouth so he gags when we try to give him table food.

Now, to swallow therapy! Amy (from Mercy Therapy) is a speech therapist but is working with Cole specifically on swallowing. Cole can not (or will not) eat anything but baby food, baby cereal and still takes bottles. He has only had his initial session but I feel he did great. Amy gave us a cool NUK nubby tool and she used a vibrating spoon to try to 'desensitize' his mouth. He even ate some small peach chunks. Way to go Cole!