Speech & Feeding
At chicagomyo, speech and feeding are not a separate service. Our care brings speech-language pathology, feeding therapy, and myofunctional training together, so when a sound or a mealtime struggle traces back to how the mouth rests and moves, it is treated as one picture rather than passed between specialists. That covers articulation for sounds with a muscular cause, and pediatric feeding for picky eating and oral motor skills.
Understanding the muscle connection
Some speech errors are muscle patterns wearing a disguise. A lisp that rides on a tongue thrust, an R that never settles because the tongue rests low, sounds that improve in the therapy room and collapse at home: these often trace back to how the mouth rests and moves, not to what the child knows.
Feeding works the same way. Chewing, moving food, and tolerating textures are oral motor skills. When they lag, mealtimes narrow to a few safe foods and a lot of stress. Building the underlying skills reopens the menu.
Signs we see
- A lisp, or distorted S, R, or L sounds
- Speech progress that plateaued in traditional articulation therapy
- Picky eating that is really texture avoidance
- Slow, messy, or effortful chewing, or overstuffing the mouth
- Gagging on foods that peers manage easily
How therapy helps
This is where the practice’s training in speech-language pathology, feeding, and myofunctional therapy does the most work. We treat the muscular base and the sound together: rest posture and swallow first, then sound-specific articulation built on top, so gains hold outside the therapy room.
Feeding therapy pairs oral motor skill building with graded, pressure-free exposure to new textures, and parents leave every session with practical strategies for the table at home.
What to expect
- An evaluation covering speech, feeding, and the muscle patterns underneath
- Regular sessions that pair muscle work with sound or feeding practice
- Parent coaching and short daily home practice
- Progress measured against baseline and shared in plain language
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Part of our program
Articulation with a muscular cause and pediatric feeding are treated within the program, built around what we find at your evaluation.
See how our program worksReady when you are.
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