In the UK there are several people who have now done to Level 2, 2 people that have completed level 3, and two of us that have done level 4. There is a large amout of training to really know how to do it properly, going from levels 1 - 6. You should ensure that you know why you are doing the exercises, what functional feeding or speech sounds are you aiming to improve, how are you transitioning any improvement into feeding and speech, how many times per day do you need to do it. I should also say I have now gone on to train to level 4 Talk Tools and do present a workshop for Talk Tools, so may be a little biased! I should say that all of the interventions were also conducted using behaviour science in order to maximise progress (I am a behaviour analyst). Then we would go straight to speech, m,b,p isolated sounds or words if we needed to develop better bilabial production in words. So for example if we were working on lip closure to get better bilabial production (m, b, p), we may use sensory exercises, such as mouse z-vibe head for lip closure, then maybe feeding exercises such as single sip cup drinking, then motor exercises such as flat mouthed horns or the lip press exercise. Talk Tools programs should consist of sensory, motor then speech elements. We also used Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol and a program using Wordflips, which were recommended by the Talk Tools therapist. I have to say though that we would not have seen this success if we had not developed a comprehensive program incorporating the Talk Tools hierarchies, Talk Tools Sensory and Feeding Techniques, Talk Tools Apraxia Kit and tactile cueing. With children with ASD, we saw development of speech. For a child with severe motor issues, similar to CP, we saw success with Talk Tools feeding interventions, he now no longer has a protruding tongue and can now chew food. We have seen good success with Talk Tools with a wide range of abilities. She also evaluated several other children I worked with. We had a consult by a Talk Tools Level 6 trained SLT. I began using Talk Tools 3 years ago with our then 12 year old foster child, non-verbal ASD, developmental delayverbal dysraxia and dysarthria.
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