How to do swallow pill

Dear Sandra, I haven’t seen this one addressed but maybe I am overlooking it… When one swallows a pill, what exactly should they do? Some place the pill towards the posterior of the tongue, take water and swallow, others put water in the mouth first and then drop the pills in. What is the correct way to swallow?? Thank you once again.

Hi, In the last section of the Myo Manual, which I think you have, we have addressed drinking and pill swallows. In short, here are the concepts and sequence: 1. Phase one is completed and all muscle functions are maximized and within normal range 2. Suctioning exercises are mastered and the mechanics of swallowing are passed. 3. The drinking sections: single sips, continuous drinking, straw drinking, etc. are mastered. 1.Then the pill swallow is introduced.  I teach patients to begin with Nerds, if possible since they come in very small sizes to begin with. 2. Beforehand, I draw a picture of a large circle to represent the vast amount of water and place a small circle in the circle to represent the pill; this gives the patient a true mental image of the smallness of the “pill” compared to the large amount of water that they are regularly swallowing throughout the day at this point. 3. The patient wets the tongue; places a small nerd in the center/back area of the tongue and does the continuous swallows, which have already been mastered, “allowing” the nerd to go down with the water. Then a slightly larger Nerd is used, a small baking M&M can be used, as they work their way up to larger pills, as needed. There should be no struggle behavior and if you have followed the program in a sensible, sequential order, you can expect a very, very high level of immediate success.  Let me know if this helps. My best, Sandra