Clarke Communication Services

06/01/2022

Cute trick!

This b/d reversal trick may be one to try! Here are multisensory and motor b/d letter reversal strategies: https://www.theottoolbox.com/multi-sensory-strategies-for-b-and-d-reversals/

Image from Talk

05/13/2022

What’s the difference between UARS and OSA??

In Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), the airway is either completely or partially blocked by the tongue or soft-tissues in the back of the throat. This leads to interruptions in breathing that causes drops in oxygen levels and increases to carbon-dioxide levels. When the body senses this, it responds by sending signals to the brain that awaken the person through fight-or-flight stress mechanisms. This can happen every few minutes throughout the night.

In Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS), there is a restriction or resistance to airflow that requires increased effort to maintain adequate breathing. It is similar to OSA in that the resistance to airflow is more predominate during sleep when the throat and tongue muscles are most relaxed. Yet, in UARS, the person wakes up before there is a blockage that would cause interruption to breathing.

05/11/2022

Deep slow nasal breathing & facial tension relieves facial tics….

Our findings indicate that deep slow nasal respiration with tight lip closure ameliorates tics in patients with TS/CTD. In accordance with our results, lip opening and oral breathing could be causes of tics, in addition to heritability. Therefore, this novel procedure could improve tics. Furthermore...

05/03/2022

Low tongue posture may have many impacts on your health.

If you clench your teeth, it's likely you're not posturing your tongue in the right place. When the tongue muscles are untrained, the chewing or TMJ muscles turn on in general posture.

There are lesser known roles of the tongue in both widening the upper jaw and positioning the lower jaw in line with the nose are two ways that it may improve facial structure.

Issues with low tongue posture may include:
1 speech disorders (certain sounds)
2 sleep apnea (tongue falls back into throat associated with throat snoring)
3 breathing problems (low tongue posture increases risk of mouthbreathing)
4 swallowing problems (a tongue thrust swallow may distort the shape of the jaw and affect posture
5 sinus inflammation (lack of nasal breathing can associate with an immune response in the nose)

If you suffer from any of the issues above, it may be prudent to start to work on tongue posture.

Here's a start:

1) keep your mouth closed and your teeth gently apart.
2) move your tongue to the roof of your mouth and lightly press upwards
3) you should feel a little pressure throughout your palate
4) Position so as not block your airway as you breathe
5) Maintain this whenever you can.

The goal is this to become habit for you and the tongue to become stronger. It should also turn off the jaw muscles of the cheek and side of the head that can become sore due to constantly clenching teeth together.

Another consideration is your swallowing

During swallowing the tongue should press up to the palate but also a second movement to the side (into the back teeth).

So when you swallow you should first feel connection with the palate, and then a send wave of pressure up and a third wave outwards

Do you struggle with forward head and open mouth posture?

05/03/2022

Reflux…

Ever had heartburn after eating? Then you DON’T have silent reflux. That’s because silent reflux & acid reflux are different but can still cause gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). That means the condition is chronic and
CAUSES COMPLICATIONS. I put that in caps because that’s what I want you to
focus on…

👉🏼Kids can’t always verbalize what they are feeling, so if you notice any of the complications in this post, talk to you doctor about the possibility that your child is experiencing discomfort due to GERD. With silent reflux, you won’t see much (if any) spitting up, and kids can’t always tell you that something is different if they’ve always felt this way. Silent reflux is different than acid reflux, because there is typically no heartburn. Both can result in GERD, because both cause complications – and for hesitant eaters, that means they aren’t as willing to participate in mealtimes, try new foods and more.

👉🏼Let’s break down the signs mentioned in the post:
👉🏼Pacifier Use: The calming effect of the paci helps soothe the throat & your child in general. Our saliva helps to neutralize the acidity as well, but over time, the saliva will also become too acidic.
👉🏼Coughing & hoarseness: The stomach contents rise up to the vocal folds & irritate, causing a cough. The more you cough, the more you irritate, the more
you cough!
👉🏼Hunger, then stops eating: When hunger pangs are louder than the discomfort, kids will try to eat. Eating then causes more discomfort, and overrides the
hunger threshold.
👉🏼Rigid posturing: Kids who stretch their bodies & “posture” or appear to contort into unusual positions momentarily may have a rare condition, Sandifer’s Syndrome. It’s related to GERD & sometimes hiatal hernias.
👉🏼Chronic sinus congestion: When stomach contents rise up, the throat becomes inflamed, and that in turn inflames the nasal tissues, causing swelling & congestion.
👉🏼Sleep: Nobody sleeps well with discomfort, chronic coughing or nasal congestion.
👉🏼Breathing well while sleeping is essential.
👉🏼Bad breath: Undigested food, bacteria & other stomach contents create odor as they travel up the throat.

05/02/2022

04/13/2022

04/13/2022

Adderall is a commonly prescribed drug for kids with ADHD. It contains four salts of amphetamine, a stimulant.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the most popular treatments were stimulants that acted only for four to six hours. Most kids now are taking ones that last 12 hours.

Over the past two decades, parents and teachers have reported epidemic levels of children with trouble focusing, impulsive behavior and so much energy that they are bouncing off walls. Educators, policymakers and scientists have referred to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, as a national crisis and have spent billions of dollars looking into its cause.

What is interesting, is that the medical literature has been showing a very strong connection between kids diagnosed with ADHD, and underlying sleep issues.

Are they just tired?

What if, as a growing number of researchers are proposing, many kids today simply aren't getting the sleep they need, leading to challenging behaviors that mimic ADHD?
Sleep disorders often mimic ADHD symptoms, causing inattentiveness and restlessness in people who don’t have ADHD.

Growing evidence suggests that a segment of children with ADHD are misdiagnosed and actually suffer from insufficient sleep, insomnia, obstructed breathing or another known sleep disorder.

But the most paradigm-challenging idea may be that ADHD may itself be a sleep disorder. If correct, this idea could fundamentally change the way ADHD is studied and treated.

75% of people with ADHD have sleep disturbances and that the less sleep they get the more severe the symptoms. In one paper, scientists showed that a group of children with nighttime breathing issues who were diagnosed with ADHD no longer met the diagnostic criteria for the disorder after they had their adenoids or tonsils removed to treat the sleep problem.

That means if kids snore, and have symptoms of ADHD, you need to investigate their breathing at night.

This includes development of the dental arch which supports the airway at night and tendencies to mouth breathe.

Don’t ignore kids who don’t sleep well.

Do you or a family member suffer from these issues?

03/24/2022

You know what's better than saying "this food is good for you"? Tell them what foods do in their body! Why do I keep sharing this message? Because we keep selling our kids short labeling foods and good/bad, healthy/unhealthy. Here are some examples of messages I like for different ages⁠:
⁣⠀⁠⠀
For 2-3yo kids I usually break it down by color. Although it's not 100% accurate, it’s a good framework to get started. ⁣⠀⁠⠀
❤️ Red: gives you a strong heart⁣⠀⁠⠀
🧡 Orange: helps you see in the dark⁣⠀⁠⠀
💛Yellow: helps your body heal cuts⁣⠀⁠⠀
💚Green: gives you super powers to fight off sickness⁣⠀⁠⠀
💜💙Blue and Purple: Give you a strong brain⁣⠀⁠⠀
💟White: gives you energy⁣⠀⁠⠀
⁠⠀
For 4s and 5s you can start being more specific - like carrots and sweet potatoes help you be able to see in the dark. Clementines help your skin heal cuts. Broccoli helps your night vision, your skin heal, AND your bones be strong.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
For 4s/5s and 6s you can introduce the idea that some foods do a lot of things in their bodies and some foods do a few things.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
For 6s and 7s you can introduce the concept of vitamins and minerals - tell them HOW carrots protect their night vision (via vitamin A). Learn about the body.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
For 8s and 9s - learn even more about different things in foods. ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
And so on.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
All the while, model the way you want your kids to eat in your home and serve them the balanced diet you want them to eat. That's more powerful than anything you could ever tell them.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
If you need help getting your child to try new foods, my free child eating guide 🔥 From Stress to Success - 4 Ways to Help Your Child Eat Better without Losing Your Mind is in my bio ⁠.eat.in.color⁠⠀
⁣⠀⁠⠀