Sun Rises Speech & Language Services, PLLC

07/19/2023

Exposure can do wonders.

Embedding a variety of experiences with food in our everyday routine is a great way to expose our little ones to a variety of food items.

Before curbside pickup was invented, my now 10-year old loved grabbing the veggies and fruits (pictured above) while we went grocery shopping. It was a fun and enjoyable experience for the both of us.

My oldest daughter is now an adventurous eater and loves trying new foods, just like my husband and I do.

It’s not always that easy and it’s not just one thing that we can do. It’s always very individualized and there are many factors to consider.
It does take modeling, consistency, and what I am calling making a “good mess.”

What are some ways you like to incorporate exposing your little ones to new foods?

04/11/2023

Summer is a great time to seek additional help for little ones.

Get to know more about the services I offer 👇🏽.

Also scan the QR Code for more information and free resources on my website.

Have any questions? Feel free to call. 📞

11/02/2022

Check out the great visual 👇🏽of how tongue ties impact resting posture.

This is an awesome post by my friend and colleague, Frances, owner of Max Potential Therapy.

If you are looking for a Qualified Orofacial Myologist in Jacksonville, FL, Max Potential Therapy is the place to call!

10/27/2022

We've talked about OMDs and what they are on a previous post.

Check out the second page. Does your child present with any of these symptoms?

Additional symptoms include:

Grinding teeth/bruxism
Poor quality sleep/Restless sleep
Inattentiveness

If your child is presenting with any or all of these symptoms, it is best to reach out to an orofacial myologist for an evaluation.

Are you local? Have any questions? Feel free to contact me for a consultation.

10/24/2022

Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders or OMDs can be identified at any age.

OMDs can be caused by specific conditions and/or behaviors that impede the growth of our oral and facial structures. (More on this soon).

The interference of normal growth and development of our mouth and face affects our overall health as we rely on these specific structures to breathe, sleep, eat and speak.

10/22/2022

Ever wondered what is Orofacial Myology?

It's all in the name.

Let's break it down:
Oro=Mouth
Facial=Face
Myo=Muscle
All of this = Muscles of the face and mouth.

An Orofacial Myologist, which can also be known as a Myofunctional Therapist, evaluates and treats the muscles of the face, jaw, tongue, and lips.

Why is this important?

These muscles help us to breathe, speak, chew and swallow….all the necessary things.

Inadequate use of these muscles can prevent us from: sleeping well, breathing appropriately,
chewing/swallowing correctly,
speaking clearly, and can cause problems with teeth alignment.

The functional use of our orofacial muscles allows us to achieve overall health.

10/18/2022

Progress pictures!

Check out the before and after pictures of one of my clients.

What differences do you observe?

After a few sessions, my client has:
*Progressed with identification of
tongue tip to spot
*Increased lingual elevation
*Decreased facial tension and compensations

The combination of therapy and home practice is what makes all the difference. Collaboration is key!

Check out my website for more information on orofacial myology.

10/15/2022

I opened my mind, heart, and eyes to orofacial myology in 2020, and I haven’t looked back since.

I have dived deep in the past two years, but the learning never stops!

On September 5th, 2022 I officially became a Qualified Orofacial Myologist!

Orofacial myology combines my love of health & wellness with speech-language pathology.

Through my practice and training, I can make a profound impact in the way my clients’ breathe, sleep, eat, swallow, and speak.

What a dream to serve my clients in a holistic manner and get to the root of their concerns so they can truly thrive!

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08/25/2022

Hi IG family, it has been awhile.

What a beautiful and blessed year it has been providing services to families around the Spicewood area.

Aside from providing , this year has also been a year of working towards elevating my skill level and expertise.

I naturally took a step back from posting as it has been a dedicated time of learning, studying and growing.

I am almost to the finish line, and it is good to be back on this page to say 👋🏽

I wanted to start off with sharing some changes to the practice that are in effect immediately.

Scroll through the pics to see our new service areas and new hours of service. 📍

I will surely miss serving the community. You all made this practice grow and I am forever grateful.

Like they say, “Change is good,” and I am so excited to offer services to families in new areas around

Looking forward for what’s to come. 💛

04/11/2022

It is a team effort. Seek professionals knowledgeable in this space.

Tongue Tie Checklist

If you have a tongue-tied baby that has feeding problems, there is a defined list of what needs to happen to change the symptoms for the better.

1) A full feeding evaluation. This can be from an IBCLC, SLP or OT.
2) A full surgical release of the tongue. This means releasing the genioglossus muscle so it has full mobility. Sometimes, a simple anterior release can help, but that needs to be a discussion with the family.
3) Appropriate wound care to guide how the wound tries to heal (this wouldn't apply if just an anterior release was done). We want the wound to heal in a way that allows the tongue to move up towards the palate.
4) Postoperative suck training and feeding support.
5) If body tension is present, appropriate bodywork (this is the only one I feel isn’t a universal need).

You can’t pick and choose from this list and hope it gets better. You can’t have a release without guidance by a supportive feeding team. You can’t have support from a feeding team but have a poor surgical release of the tie. You can’t have support and a good release but ignore the wound care. It’s the whole package. This isn’t rocket science. It is, however, a strenuous process for everyone involved and we need to start acknowledging that. Just like an orthopedic surgeon demands physical therapy pre/post-surgery, the current medical model needs to start addressing this process for what it is: a surgery on an infant who needs guidance.

If there is a failure of improvement, then something in this list didn’t happen.

02/03/2022

Why babies need to crawl...read this wonderful post to learn more!

02/02/2022

We are honored to serve the Latino community in Spicewood and surrounding areas. If you are in need of a Bilingual speech-language evaluation, contact us today.

Fact: Only 8.2% of SLPs are Latino.

Check out the video below to see how a practice in Oklahoma is serving the Latino community by providing services in Spanish!

https://youtu.be/G9nyEOoWr4o

Watch this video to learn about Therapitas' story and the impact our amazing multidisciplinary team is making in the Spanish-speaking community. If you would...

12/22/2021

Chronic mouth breathing can cause the direction of the face to grow incorrectly. This is what causes things like crooked teeth, narrow pallets, crowded teeth, and a face to become narrow. This not only causes a less aesthetically pleasing face (per society) but a narrow airway and inadequate breathing!

When improper growth does not happen when children are young, it leads to issues like sleep apnea as an adult. The moral of the story is that mouth breathing affects the mouth and goes much deeper, affecting one's wellness overall far into life. Addressing mouth breathing as early as possible in life will undoubtedly help lead to a much healthier long-term path in life.

11/25/2021

I am grateful to all the families that have placed their trust in me and my practice. I wouldn’t be the SLP I am today without you! It is a privilege to be a small part of the journey!

Happy Thanksgiving!

05/28/2021

This is a fantastic resource with important information on tongue ties.

Tongue Ties Do exist and affect our entire body....from sleeping, to breathing, to eating.

Read below to learn more!

05/25/2021

Join owner of Max Potential Therapy, Frances, this Thursday via zoom as she will be teaching parents three strategies to enhance language skills in children birth to 5. All free and all in the comfort of your home!

Check below for more details!

05/06/2021

Did you know that how we breathe, shapes our face and our oral cavity?
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When we breathe through our nose, our lips come together helping the alignment of our teeth.
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Breathing through our nose also allows the tongue (if in the correct posture) to be up on the palate and shaping it for our airway. Our jaw is also shaped which is critical for chewing, speaking, breathing and even sleeping.
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Mouth breathing, however, impacts our structures, causing misaligned teeth, long-face syndrome, and a high and narrow palate affecting our airway.
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Mouth breathing has been linked to poor sleep, adversely affecting growth, mood, behavior, and even academic performance in our little ones.
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Nasal breathing is vital for our health and wellness and critical as soon as we are born.
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Have you noticed how you and your family are breathing?

05/01/2021

Happy Month to all of the amazing SLPs and AuDs I have the beautiful privilege of knowing. Thank you for all you do!

Wouldn’t dream of doing anything else.

03/25/2021

In the world we live in today, information is at our fingertips. It is a beautiful thing to have that access available; however, it can also be risky and at times damaging if we are misinformed.

We have to be aware that misinformation exists.

Here are a few examples of the misinformation out there:

Feeding- It’s just a phase if your child does not eat. All children are picky eaters.

Motor skills- Crawling is not a necessary skill. It’s ok if your child does not crawl.

Language- Oh your child is bilingual?! They will probably have a language delay if they continue using two languages at home.

Breastfeeding- Nursing is painful, just stick with it until you get used to the pain.

Snoring- It’s normal to snore, it’s just annoying.

Sippy Cups- it’s a milestone, your child should use sippy cups.

I would love to know your thoughts and any other advice you may have received that may have been untrue. Let’s spread some awareness so more families can keep searching for appropriate answers and seek the right help!

Comment below 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

03/05/2021

Looking to have beautiful teeth and a gorgeous smile?

What if I told you, it doesn’t start with seeking orthodontic work but establishing correct oral resting posture?

When we nasal breathe, our lips come together acting as a natural retainer helping with the alignment of our teeth.

However, when we mouth breathe, our lips come apart which changes the alignment of our teeth and our entire oral and facial structure!

To avoid orthodontic relapse, seek orofacial myofunctional therapy first and get down to the why of the problem!

Swipe to see the effects of mouth breathing on our facial and oral structures. Both pictures were obtained from the

03/03/2021

Looking to improve your body posture?

Did you know that your oral resting posture can affect your body posture and overall health?

We may believe that working on our core will help our posture, and although that can help, a forward head posture needs further assessment and treatment.

Having an interdisciplinary treatment approach allows us to treat our clients in a holistic manner, giving us a chance to get down to the root cause of the problem. Treating the whole body allows us to make a profound and lasting impact in the lives of our clients.

02/26/2021

We have become used to some of these answers, “It’s normal. Some children are just like that. It’s just a phase,” for questions like: Pain while nursing, a child not wanting to eat, a child with poor sleeping habits, snoring, to name a few.
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Just because something is common, it does not mean it is normal.
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Parents/Caregivers, keep searching for those answers; even if it means you need second, third or more professional opinions.
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As the parent, you are the expert. You are your child’s greatest advocate.
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If something does not feel right, then it’s probably not right. Find the professional who not only will hear your concerns, but will listen and will work in partnership with you to find true answers and search for root causes.
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Don’t give up! We are out there!

10/09/2020

The world is filled with so much wonder and we as parents/caregivers can really take advantage of all it’s beauty and promote amazing functional language and learning.

Today, as safely as we could, in these times, we visited a farm and enjoyed so much learning.

We talked about all the things we saw (pumpkins, horses, mazes, trucks, hay, flowers)...simple modeling of new vocabulary words while having tactile prompts can be so advantageous and will allow for new connections in language and learning.

As I’m homeschooling, I also took advantage of some math problems in the real world with my 7 year old and we practiced cutting skills and colors with my youngest.

Visiting a farm is not necessary to gain new skills, although, it sure is fun.

Overall, It’s really about making any environment a learning opportunity.

08/15/2020

Myofunctional therapy has opened my eyes and has giving me a set of skills I have felt I was missing in my practice.

Life has led me down this road (this holistic road) to learn more and to search for the root cause of any problem, not only in my personal life, but as a professional.

Airway, as myofunctional therapy teaches us, is everything. It may seem like common sense, but many grad programs don’t teach us about airway.

Airway trumps everything. If there is an airway issue, there will be no progress in therapy.
Airway is our driving force and should always be addressed first!

07/23/2020

I had the wonderful pleasure of speaking on the Untethered podcast with Hallie Bulkin on Cultural and Linguistic Diversity.

Take a listen to the full podcast if you would like to learn more about CLD and Bilingualism.

07/20/2020

There is no evidence, no research, to suggest that bilingualism causes language confusion.

Code switching (using two or more languages in conversation, phrase, sentence) can sometimes be misinterpreted as language confusion.

Code switching is rule-governed and research shows it requires a great deal of bilingual competency.

Furthermore, people may see it as a sign of laziness; however, this is also inaccurate.

It is a behavior that may be done among bilingual speakers to express sayings that may sound better in one language than another.
Bilingual speakers also know when and with whom to code switch.

So if you have the privilege to listen to children who are bilingual have a conversation, just remember bilingualism causing language confusion is a myth and code switching is often used in bilingual language communities that should be respected and in my opinion, admired.

For more myths on bilingualism, check out my first featured podcast with on the

06/24/2020

Do you speak more than one language or know someone who does?

It is estimated that 29.5% of the total population living in households in Texas speak Spanish.

It’s important to understand as SLP’s and educators that bilingualism does not cause language confusion or language delays.

Research continues to show remarkable benefits with the development of social-emotional skills, cognitive skills, and language and literacy skills for children who learn two or more languages.

Children and individuals who think in two languages have advanced executive functioning skills and an openness to learn about and from people of other cultures.

10/28/2019

An augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) course was provided for SLP’s and educators by in Austin this month. It was an excellent course that provided unbelievable resources.

The Do’s and Dont’s of AAC was a great handout that was provided to us.
When I saw it, I instantly loved it as a resource to share with you all. Not only is it easy-to-read and to the point, it also provides us with powerful tips as communication partners.

This handout was retrieved from which is filled with a plethora of wonderful information on AAC.
What are your go-to websites for all things AAC?