Pilot Study
The study will be in 5 stages over a 3 month period.
Objective:
To determine if corrective massage protocols are useful as an effective
approach to influence and improve speech abilities.
We request you begin a diary recording your thoughts and observations
as soon as you decide to commit to this study.
The initial tudy will include 10 children who have been identified as
presenting speech difficulties.
Stage 1:
Children are
initially evaluated by certified speech pathologist Nancy Cary. Nancy
has over 23 years of experience with people from 0 to 110, in many different
settings, schools, in home care, hospitals, etc. Her license number
is SP 7263.
Scheduling will be coordinated with Nancy. Appointments will be approximately
45 minutes long.
Stage 2:
3 sessions of
corrective massage approximately one week apart. Scheduling will be
coordinated with Taum. Appointments are approximately 30-45 minutes.
One or both parents are required to be in attendance.
Muscles to receive therapy include muscles involved in movement of head,
neck, mouth, lips, and tongue. It is suggested children wear loose comfortable
clothing.
Stage 3:
A second session
with Nancy Cary to record, monitor, and evaluate progress. Scheduling
will be coordinated with Nancy.
Stage 4:
3 more sessions
of corrective massage with Taum Sayers. Appointments are approximately
30-45 minutes. One or both parents are required to be in attendance.
Muscles to receive therapy include muscles involved in movement of head,
neck, mouth, lips, and tongue. It is suggested children wear loose comfortable
clothing.
Stage 5:
The final session
with Nancy Cary to record, monitor, and evaluate progress. Scheduling
will be coordinated with Nancy. You may already be seeing the fruits
of all of our labor after the initial sessions.
Forms and miscellaneous documents will be provided.
Study for Children’s Speech Improvement.
Mikies story …..
Several years ago I had the opportunity to have four year old Mikie as
a client. He originally came in for therapy for his hips. His parents
noticed his ability to stand and walk was not keeping up with the children
in his age group. His grandmother (a nurse) had heard of my work so she
and Mikies mom brought him to see me for corrective massage therapy hoping
we could help his walking problems. He exhibited tenderness in the hip
region and therapy was primarily focused there. Included was an overall
muscular rebalancing which included gentle detailed corrective massage
in his neck and jaw areas. After several visits Mikies parents told me
that his teacher in preschool was observing two important improvements:
Mikies increased
ability to complete his sentences when speaking.
The clarity of
his spoken words.
These noticeable
improvements continued coinciding with Mikies visits for therapy.
I recently had an interesting conversation sharing this with Nancy Cary,
a Licensed Speech Language Pathologist whose specialty is children. We
discussed the role muscular compromises play in interfering with the ability
to speak clearly and what I thought was enabling Mikies speaking abilities
to improve. Nancy and I decided these ‘coincidences’ presented
some wonderful possibilities. We have organized a study to see if this
is a protocol worthy of sharing with the hope of helping other children
with their speech issues.
Consider the following…
Within a study
at Purdue using spectral analysis, researchers found a relationship between
disrupted muscular activity and speech problems. **
Simply put, muscles
act upon messages sent via the nervous system.
Some are set on
automatic, for example the musculature interactions involved in digestion.
Others require
intention, for example the musculature actions required to walk. A person
intends to move across the room and the muscles respond.
It appears that
when there are problems/compromises in speech, one component can be soft
tissue situations that impede the intended message passing (via the nerves)
through, in, and around the problematic muscles.
Contemplate dental
work, more than likely after the appointment your mouth felt ‘funny’
and speaking was an awkward challenge. Was this because the nerves monitoring
pain were suppressed and this also compromised the ability of the musculature
involved in speech? Often the effects wear off….what if those effects
did not diminish?
The muscles involved
in speech and articulation are innervated by nerves passing through the
musculature of the neck and jaw regions. Our theory is compromise/tension
within these muscles would then diminish nerve flow and impair speech.
Therefore, if muscular compromise/tension is reduced, what follow would
be an improved ability to speak.
Our question:
“Was it just a coincidence that Mikies ability to speak improved
following corrective massage to his neck and jaw? We think not…and
so Nancy Cary and Taum Sayers are organizing a study to see if in fact
there are noticeable benefits to approaching speech difficulties from
a manual therapy point of view.
Will reducing muscular tension in the neck/jaw/mouth regions have a positive
affect on a child’s ability to speak? We shall find out!!!
