Week 1
Exercise 1 - Resting Position
Duration: Any time you are at rest (not talking or eating)
Frequency: All day for 7 days
- The Spot: Put the tip of your tongue on the bumpy spot behind your top front teeth (the alveolar ridge).
- Bite Down: Bite down on your back teeth.
- Close Lips: Gently close your lips.
Tips for this exercise:
- You should be working on maintaining a correct resting position at all times during the week. Any time you are not talking or eating, your tongue, teeth, and lips should remain in the resting position. At the end of each day you should track how well you maintained the resting position. Write an "A" for "all" on the tracking sheet if you maintained the correct resting position at all times during the day. Write a "P" for "part" on the tracking sheet if you maintained the correct resting position for part of the day. Write an "N" for "none" on the tracking sheet if you did not maintain the correct resting position at all that day.
Exercise 2 - Tongue Tip Taps
Duration: 30 seconds
Frequency: 3 times a day for 7 days
- Relax: Let your tongue relax on the floor of your mouth, inside your bottom teeth.
- Touch: Hold a tongue depressor straight up and down touching the tip of your tongue.
- Tap: Tap the tip of your tongue with the tongue depressor for 30 seconds.
Tips for this exercise:
- Look at your tongue in a mirror during the entire exercise.
- Make sure you hold the tongue depressor vertically & not horizontally.
- Keep your tongue as relaxed as possible during the entire 30 seconds.
Exercise 3 - Tongue Side Strokes
Duration: 10 times on each side of your tongue (20 strokes total)
Frequency: 3 times a day for 7 days
- Tongue Out: Stick your tongue way out of your mouth.
- Tongue Lift: While sticking your tongue out – curl the tip up slightly and lift the sides and bottom of your tongue up off of the bottom of your mouth, teeth, and lips.
- Stroke 1: Using a tongue depressor stroke one side of your tongue starting at the back of the tongue and pulling the tongue depressor toward the tip of your tongue.
- Stroke 2: Complete the previous step on the other side or your tongue.
Tips for this exercise:
- Look at your tongue in a mirror during the entire exercise.
- Make sure to hold your tongue out of your mouth as much as possible during the entire exercise. Do not let your tongue tip follow the tongue depressor back into your mouth.
- Make sure to hold your tongue up off of your bottom lips and teeth as much as possible during the entire exercise.
- If you have a hard time lifting your tongue out and up, try holding the tongue depressor out in front of your mouth and bringing the tip of your tongue out to touch it.
Exercise 4 - Tongue Pops
Duration: 10 times for 10 seconds each time
Frequency: 3 times a day for 7 days
- The Spot: Put the tip of your tongue on the bumpy spot behind your top front teeth (the alveolar ridge).
- Suck Up: Suck your tongue against the roof of your mouth.
- Stretch: Open your mouth as wide as you can, stretching your frenum (or the small band of tissue that connects the underside of your tongue to the floor of your mouth) for 10 seconds.
- Pop: Pull your tongue down hard so that your tongue makes a loud popping sound.
Tips for this exercise:
- Look at your tongue in a mirror during the entire exercise.
- If you have a hard time figuring out how to suck your tongue up to the roof of your mouth – try clicking your tongue. Watch how your tongue sucks up to the roof of your mouth each time you click your tongue. Try to slow down the movement and hold your tongue up against the roof of your mouth for longer.
- When stretching your frenum, make sure that it appears skinny (like a thread). The skinnier it looks – the better your suction is. If you have a difficult time keeping it skinny – just try to make it skinnier by sucking harder each day.
- Make sure that when you pop your tongue down it is loud. The louder it is, the better it is working your muscles. If you have difficulty with this at first just try to make it a little louder each day.