I’m so excited to share one of my favourite reading reading games today: Mr Tongue’s House. It’s a fantastic warm up to any reading session. It’s fun. It’s funny. It involves actions. It gets all the kids involved. Mr Tongue lives inside his mouth house, "Hello". He loves to explore and make sounds with his mouth. Along with missing syllables, children also often add an additional sound to a word. For instance, the world ‘slide’ might be pronounced as ‘suhlide’.

Having a tongue-tie can make it difficult for your child to say certain sounds, but it won't have an impact on their overall language development ( read more about the differences between speech and language here). To explain it simply, speech involves what happens in the mouth, and a tongue-tie can affect speech. However, language development takes place in the brain and is not influenced by a tongue-tie. On the lateral surface of the oral tongue are foliate papillae arranged as a series of vertical folds. The ventral mucosa of the oral tongue is comparatively unremarkable. It is smooth and continuous with the mucosa of the floor of the mouth and the inferior gingiva. The lingual veins are relatively superficial and can be appreciated on either side of the lingual frenulum. Lateral to the lingual veins are pleated folds of mucosa known as the plica fimbriata. They are angled anteromedially toward the apex of the tongue. Posterior third Because the evidence we have now doesn’t support a correlation between tongue-tie revisions and improved articulation skills, we do not recommend releasing your child’s tongue tie just to prevent potential future problems. To put it really plainly, there’s just no guarantee that tongue-tie release surgery (also called a frenectomy) will make a difference.Insertion - blends with inferior longitudinal muscle (longitudinal part); blends with hyoglossus muscle (oblique part) Dental Health: Tongue-ties may contribute to dental problems such as tooth decay, gum disease, and misalignment of teeth. Correcting the tongue-tie can promote better oral hygiene and help prevent potential long-term dental issues. If you are following all of these bits of advice and your child is still not progressing, you may need a referral to a speech and language therapist. The presulcal tongue originates from the first pharyngeal arch, while the postsulcal part arises from the third and fourth pharyngeal arches. While the shape of the tongue is determined by the intrinsic muscles of the tongue, movement of the organ within (and out of) the oral cavity is dependent on the extrinsic tongue muscles. There are four pairs of extrinsic muscles, which can be viewed as those arising from above the tongue, and those that originate from below the tongue. Key facts Genioglossus

Similarly, a study by Salt et al. (2020) advises against tongue-tie revisions solely to prevent speech problems. The research has not yet provided conclusive evidence that tongue-tie releases improve speech production and age appropriate speech errors may resolve on their own. If you enjoyed reading Tongue Exercises For Speech Articulation in Toddlers, you might also enjoy reading: While tongue-ties can contribute to speech difficulties, it's important to understand that they are not always the cause. Some children with tongue-ties experience normal speech development, while others may have difficulties pronouncing some sounds. Don’t try all these exercises in one sitting. Do 5 minutes of these exercises in each sitting. Sneak them in during playtime or even dinner time. The intrinsic tongue muscles are responsible for adjusting the shape and orientation of the organ. It is made up of four paired muscles, which are discussed below in a dorsoventral manner.These activities will support the phonics work you get from your child's school and are fun ways to work on reading and spelling without needing a pen and pencil! When a child with a speech delay has to pronounce a big word like, ‘telephone’, he might say ‘tephone’. Additions The development of taste buds begins as the last of the papillae are formed in the 11th week of gestation. Their formation is influenced by the invading special sensory nerve fibers, as well as inductive factors from the surrounding epithelium. Although the majority of these specialized gustatory receptors will develop on the dorsum of the tongue, they also arise on the hard and soft palates, dorsum of the epiglottis, palatoglossal arches, and the posterior oropharyngeal wall. Taste bud development is concluded around the 13th gestational week. Nerve supply The palatoglossal and palatopharyngeal arches (along with the palatine tonsils) have lateral relations to the posterior third of the tongue. Posterior to the base of the tongue is the dorsal surface of the epiglottis and laryngeal inlet, and the posterior wall of the oropharynx. As mentioned earlier, the presulcal and postsulcal parts of the tongue differ not only by anatomical location, but also based on embryological origin, innervation, and the type of mucosa found on its surface. Anterior two thirds Also, the tongue and the hard palate develop simultaneously. It contributes to molding the palate into the arched structure that it eventually becomes during postnatal life. Most of the morphological changes of the tongue occur during the first trimester of pregnancy. By the second trimester and into extrauterine life, the rest of the changes are related to elongation and repositioning of the organ. Both the presulcal and postsulcal parts of the tongue are within the oral cavity proper at birth. Caudal migration of the posterior third of the tongue is not completed until the age of 4 years. Taste buds and papillae

This reading game, Mr Tongue’s house is a phonemic awareness warm up game. It helps promote awareness of the sounds and movements involved in spoken language. This is a really useful activity to play with any new vocabualry to help children practise new words. As always, I hope this article will help you build better communication skills in toddlers . If you notice your child struggling and these strategies aren’t helping, I would love to help you determine your child’s individual needs. Please reach out to set up a free consultation. We are here to support you as you help your child blossom! Apraxia of speech is difficulty coordinating the movements for speech even though there is nothing wrong with the muscles.

Word Levels

An awareness of the sounds and movements involved in spoken language will help a child telescope sounds and segment words; necessary skills for reading.