Oral Placement Therapy (OPT) is a specialized form of speech therapy designed to help individuals struggling with speech clarity by focusing on the physical placement and movement of the mouth’s structures. Unlike traditional therapy methods that primarily use auditory and visual cues, OPT uniquely combines auditory, visual, and tactile stimulation to improve oral motor skills. This approach makes it especially effective for people with motor and sensory impairments who need more than just hearing or seeing sounds to speak clearly.
What is Oral Placement Therapy?
Oral Placement Therapy, targets the underlying oral motor deficits that affect speech clarity. It focuses on training clients to position and move their lips, tongue, jaw, and soft palate properly to produce accurate speech sounds. OPT utilizes auditory, visual, and especially tactile feedback to enhance muscle memory, stability, and articulatory control.
Because it addresses deficits in the sensory and motor systems of the oral mechanism, OPT is essential for clients who do not respond well to traditional speech therapy alone, which tends to emphasize auditory discrimination and visual modelling.
Why is OPT Important in Speech Therapy?
Speech production is a complex motor activity that requires precise control of the oral structures. For individuals with sensory or motor impairments, their internal awareness of where their tongue, lips, or jaw are positioned (called proprioception) can be diminished. This makes it difficult for them to produce speech sounds accurately.
At Al Najma Rehabilitation Center, OPT incorporates tactile-proprioceptive stimulation, meaning it helps clients feel the correct placement and movement needed for speech. This hands-on sensory feedback enhances their awareness, stability, and muscle memory, which are critical for clear and consistent speech production.
The Role of Tactile-Proprioceptive Feedback
Traditional speech therapy relies heavily on hearing and seeing correct speech sounds and mouth movements. But for some clients—especially those with motor planning difficulties or sensory processing challenges—these cues are insufficient.
OPT fills this gap by allowing clients to feel the correct position of articulators through touch or pressure. Therapists at Al Najma Rehabilitation Center use tools such as straws, and other tactile devices to stimulate oral muscles and help clients sense the right movements for speech.
The Three Pillars of OPT
►Auditory Stimulation
Clients listen to correct speech sounds modelled by the therapist.
►Visual Stimulation
Clients watch the therapist’s mouth movements and their own in a mirror to learn accurate placement.
►Tactile Stimulation
Clients experience hands-on touch or pressure cues inside or around the mouth to develop a “feel” for the sound production.
Together, these stimuli help clients at Al Najma Rehabilitation Center develop clearer speech, especially those who struggle with auditory or visual feedback alone.
Building Articulator Awareness and Muscle Memory
A major goal of OPT at Al Najma Rehabilitation Center is to help clients become aware of their articulators (tongue, lips, jaw) and how they move during speech. With repeated practice using multi-sensory feedback, clients build muscle memory — allowing speech movements to become automatic and effortless over time.
How Does OPT Differ from Traditional Speech Therapy?
► Traditional Therapy: Focuses on hearing and seeing sounds and repeated practice.
► OPT at Al Najma: Adds a crucial tactile component, directly addressing motor placement and movement, making it effective for those with sensory or motor deficits.
OPT complements traditional methods and provides a pathway for clients who have not made progress through auditory-visual cues alone.
Who Can Benefit from Oral Placement Therapy?
OPT is helpful across ages and conditions, particularly for clients with:
► Apraxia of Speech
► Feeding difficulties impacting oral motor skills
► Down Syndrome
► Autism Spectrum Disorder
► Cerebral Palsy
Common Speech Disorders Treated with OPT
►Dysarthria: Weak or uncoordinated muscles affecting speech.
► Apraxia: Difficulty planning speech movements.
►Voice disorders related to pitch and volume control.
►Fluency disorders, such as stuttering (in some cases).
How OPT Helps Clients with Sensory Processing Challenges
Individuals with sensory processing difficulties — including those on the autism spectrum — often lack oral sensory awareness. Therapists uses OPT to provide essential tactile input, helping clients increase awareness of their oral movements and improve their speech clarity.
How Does Oral Placement Therapy Work?
OPT at Al Najma Rehabilitation Center begins with a thorough assessment of a client’s oral motor and feeding skills. Based on this assessment, therapists create a personalized treatment plan.
Common Activities Include:
►Blowing exercises: To develop breath control and lip strength.
►Bite blocks: To stabilize the jaw during speech production.
►Straw drinking tasks: To improve lip seal and tongue movement.
Integrating OPT into a Comprehensive Program
At Al Najma Rehabilitation Center, OPT is not used in isolation. It is seamlessly integrated with traditional speech and language therapy techniques to ensure a well-rounded, comprehensive treatment approach.
Conclusion
Oral Placement Therapy offers a distinctive and powerful method to improve speech clarity, particularly for those with motor and sensory challenges. At Al Najma Rehabilitation Center, our speech-language pathologists are trained to deliver OPT with precision, care, and measurable outcomes.
