*Disclosure: I have received product free for review. These thoughts are solely my own.
When this little guy started speech we were discussing ways to ‘wake up’ his mouth and tools we could use to help that. This is a whole new world to me so after discussing it and doing our research we decided the Zvibe by Ark Therapeutic was a good fit for J. The Zvibe is the ultimate vibrating oral motor for speech therapy, feeding therapy, and sensory stimulation. You can use it to provide tactile oral cues, to direct the articulators, and to wake up the mouth. You may also use it to increase oral awareness and tone, decrease mouth stuffing, drooling, oral defensiveness, texture aversions, to soothe, calm, and self organize, to improve focus and concentration, to work on oral motor exercises, and so so much more!
J had an open mouth posture before using the Zvibe and he was also drooling. He is almost 2.5 years old and when we first started speech he had about 10 words, for those unfamiliar 2 year olds should have around 200 words. The words that J did have were understandable by mom and dad but usually not others. He has been using the Zvibe for little over a month now and his mouth is generally closed and the drooling has stopped.
J increased his word count from 10 to about 45 words. Progress is slow but he is improving which is very exciting. Another way we use the Zvibe is for a calming device. Using the ‘bite and chew’ tip during a tantrum we us the Zvibe to try and divert his attention. He enjoys the calm, vibrating motion and the tip that he can bite down on. Many times this will help calm him down so we can try and figure out what his want or need is at that time. We use the Probe tip on his cheeks and to press down on his tongue and we use the Preefer tip to roll from cheek- over tongue- to next cheek. We also use the Preefer tip to roll it over J’s lips.
The Zvibe is so easy to use and wash. The tips just screw on and to turn in on you screw in the bottom. Another tool that J likes to use to strengthen his mouth is a chew tool called a grabber. It has a handle he can hold and he literally just bites down on it. The Grabber comes in different toughness from soft to extra extra tough depending on your child’s needs. Ark Therapeutic also offers many stylish chewlery depending on your needs!
If you are looking for a great starter kit they offer one with 2 chew tools, 1 Zvibe and 4 tips that come in a case for about 60 USD. You can find out more information about Ark Therapeutic and find something for all of your or your child’s oral needs here!
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