RDH wants Speech info for a reference

I am an Orofacial Myologist and I want to purchase a Speech Therapy book for a reference to keep in my library.  Can you please email me and suggest an easy to understand, informative book that may also have therapy treatments in it. Can you suggest a good one? I really appreciate your help!  I have been practicing in one way or another for many years and I have been a hygienist for 25 years  Thanks,

Hi,   There are position papers related to speech treatment and who can provide it, etc.  You must be careful not to cross over into the area of treatment for speech disorders,  just as our speech pathology members must be careful not to overstep their scope of practice. Regarding a reference book for speech therapy, that is quite a broad area that goes from stuttering… to infants with swallowing issues to stroke patients to kiddos with misarticulation to voice problems…I’ve found connections in nearly every type of speech problem through the years of observing and treating so many types of patients; thus, there wouldn’t be a particular book.   If you have found specific questions that constantly arise, please feel free to ask me to clarify or explain anything.  I teach the connections between orofacial myology evaluation findings, case history descriptions, and speech difficulties.  Some important concepts to keep in mind that might help are the following:

• This paragraph gives the major connections to orofacial myology treatment (my treatment methods; I can’t vouch for all others) and how it might help speech production for certain articulation errors. 

If the usual and customary positions for the lips, mandible and tongue are in certain locations, then it is also true that speech utterances will begin and end from those places.  Thus, a resting posture between the anterior dentition, for example, means that the person starts off from the interdental location when pronouncing (articulating) each word, phrase, sentence, and so on.  I almost always know how a person will speak (how they are obligated to speak) before hearing a sound, based on the resting postures, breathing pattern, and more. I have found connections between orofacial myology and phase one of the swallow, which I have been teaching at conventions as well as seminars and it is finally starting to “get around” and understood by more professionals.   . Also, being able to diagnose tongue tie, not only severe and obvious tongue tie, but various degrees and subtleties, is important.  As I instruct students about assessing it, we look at how the location of attachment on the tongue and floor of the mouth is important, how it is not necessarily a problem if the lingual frenum is short, but rather the location of attachments; on the other hand, a long lingual frenum might be a problem, depending upon location, tautness, and function.  And speech is not the same as it would be if the person did not have that condition.  . Even voice quality is sometimes affected if the tongue is carried forward and down; it changes the size and shape of the vocal tract, giving a different voice quality sound. . Another big area that I instruct students on is the great importance of mandibular and lingual differentiation.  I think that I am also making good headway in that area as many are realizing the necessity of maximizing those problems before ever diving into standard orofacial myology or speech therapy.     I hope, though general, these concepts help you.