Your speech therapist gave you a home program. Maybe it was a handout. Maybe it was a quick demonstration at the end of a session while you were holding a fussy baby. Either way, you left wondering: What exactly am I supposed to do, and how often? This guide translates the most common oral motor therapy exercises into clear, parent-friendly instructions you can actually follow between sessions.
What Is Oral Motor Therapy?
Oral motor therapy targets the muscles of the face, jaw, lips, tongue, and cheeks to improve the coordination, strength, and sensory processing needed for safe, efficient feeding. For children with cerebral palsy, abnormal muscle tone affects these muscles just as it affects the arms and legs, making sucking, chewing, and swallowing difficult and sometimes dangerous.
A 2011 review in DMCN (Snider et al.) found that oral motor interventions can improve feeding efficiency and reduce aspiration risk in children with CP when delivered consistently and guided by an experienced SLP.
Exercises Your SLP Wants You to Do at Home
Gum massage (oral desensitization)
Purpose: Reduces oral hypersensitivity, prepares the mouth for feeding, increases sensory awareness.
How: Using a clean finger, NUK brush, or textured finger sleeve, gently massage your child’s gums in small circular motions. Start from the outside cheeks and move inward. Work along the upper and lower gums, applying gentle, firm pressure. Complete in 1 to 2 minutes.
When: 5 to 10 minutes before meals as a sensory warm-up.
Cheek and lip tapping
Purpose: Stimulates muscle awareness, improves lip closure for swallowing.
How: Using your fingertip, gently tap around the outside of your child’s lips and cheeks in a rhythmic pattern. This wakes up the sensory receptors and encourages active lip movement.
Spoon presentation for lip closure
Purpose: Trains the upper lip to actively close down on the spoon rather than the feeder scraping food off on the teeth or palate.
How: Present the spoon flat at lip level. Wait for your child to close their upper lip down on the spoon before pulling it out horizontally. Do not tilt the spoon upward or scrape it on the upper gum.
If CP and feeding difficulties resulted from a birth injury, compensation can fund therapy and equipment.
Jaw support during feeding
Purpose: Provides stability for a child with low jaw tone or uncontrolled jaw movements during chewing and swallowing.
How: Place your index finger under your child’s lower lip, your middle finger under the chin, and your thumb on the cheek. Apply gentle upward support to help stabilize the jaw during biting and chewing. Your SLP will show you the exact hand position for your child.
Textured teether play
Purpose: Encourages lateral (side-to-side) tongue movement and chewing patterns.
How: Offer textured teethers, chew tubes (like ARK’s Z-Vibe or Grabbers), or chilled washcloths for your child to mouth and bite. Place the teether on the side molars to encourage chewing rather than just sucking.
Straw drinking (when SLP-approved)
Purpose: Builds lip rounding, suction, and tongue retraction.
How: Use a short, narrow straw (cut to 1 to 2 inches above the liquid line). Your child should use lip suction, not biting, to draw liquid up. Honey bear bottles with built-in straws are a popular starting tool.
Integrating Exercises into Daily Routines
Our team helps families understand their options for care and compensation.
What to Avoid
- Never force your child’s mouth open. This creates negative associations with feeding and can increase oral aversion.
- Do not use exercises your SLP has not approved. Online resources may recommend techniques that are unsafe for your child’s specific swallowing profile.
- Stop if your child gags, retches, or shows distress. Gagging is not a normal response to oral motor exercises done correctly.
- Do not practice with foods or textures your child has not been cleared for. This includes trying thin liquids if your child is on thickened liquids.
Our team works with families across all 38 states. No cost, no commitment. Just answers.