Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT)
Individual Counseling + Family Support and Consultation
At Way to Grow Pediatric Therapy, we believe that every child deserves the opportunity to breathe, sleep, speak, and grow with confidence. Our myofunctional therapy services utilize a play-based, family-centered, and neurodiversity-affirming approach to help children develop healthy oral and facial muscle patterns that support overall function and wellness.
Myofunctional therapy focuses on improving the strength, coordination, and resting posture of the muscles of the mouth, face, and tongue. These patterns play an important role in breathing, chewing, swallowing, speech production, sleep quality, facial growth, and overall development.
Our therapists work closely with families to create individualized therapy plans designed to help children build lifelong healthy habits in a fun, engaging, and supportive environment.
What is OMT?
Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT) is a specialized therapy approach that targets oral and facial muscle patterns that may interfere with a child’s development or daily functioning. Therapy includes exercises and activities that help retrain the tongue, lips, jaw, and facial muscles to function more efficiently and appropriately.
Who can benefit from OMT?
Myofunctional therapy is typically appropriate for children ages 4 and up who are able to follow directions and actively participate in therapy activities. Children under the age of 4 may still benefit from feeding therapy or other early intervention services that support oral motor development and healthy feeding patterns.
A child may benefit from a myofunctional evaluation if you notice:
Frequent mouth breathing
Snoring or restless sleep
Messy eating or swallowing patterns
Persistent thumb sucking or pacifier use
Speech articulation difficulties
Crowded teeth or orthodontic concerns
Low tongue posture
Tongue thrust
Incorrect tongue resting posture
Thumb or finger sucking habits
Chewing and swallowing difficulties
Sleep-disordered breathing or poor sleep quality
Teeth grinding or clenching
Orthodontic relapse
Oral motor coordination challenges
For a deep dive into symptoms, check out our blog post OMT: When It Feels Like Something More is Going On!
Benefits of myofunctional therapy:
Healthy oral function impacts much more than just the mouth. Myofunctional therapy may support improvements in several areas of development and daily life, including:
Improved Breathing Patterns- Encouraging nasal breathing can support better oxygen intake, sleep quality, endurance, and overall wellness.
Better Sleep Quality- Addressing oral resting posture and breathing patterns may help reduce snoring, restless sleep, and fatigue.
Enhanced Speech Clarity-Proper tongue placement and oral motor coordination can positively support speech sound production and intelligibility.
Improved Feeding + Swallowing Skills- Children may develop more coordinated chewing and swallowing patterns for safer and more efficient mealtimes.
Increased Awareness + Coordination-Therapy helps children better understand and control how the muscles of the mouth and face work together during daily activities.
What does therapy look like?
At Way to Grow, therapy is designed to be engaging, child-led, and functional. Sessions may include:
Oral motor exercises
Breathing awareness activities
Tongue and lip strengthening exercises
Swallowing practice
Habit elimination strategies
Play-based activities to encourage carryover of skills
Parent education and home program support
Families are an important part of the therapy process, and we work closely with caregivers to help support consistency and success at home.
Collaborative care approach:
Myofunctional therapy often works best as part of a collaborative care team. Depending on your child’s needs, we may coordinate care with:
Orthodontists
Dentists
ENTs (Ear, Nose, and Throat physicians)
Sleep specialists
Pediatricians
Other therapy providers
Our goal is to help support the whole child through meaningful, evidence-based care + Way to Grow is here to collaborate with others in order to make that happen… let’s get started!
OMT services are offered at our Peoria location.
How to get started:
At Way to Grow Pediatric Therapy Center, we’re not just providing therapy—we’re creating a community where children + families can grow together.
Contact us!
To learn more about our OMT services or to schedule an appointment, please call us at (309) 363-7594 or click “let’s get started”!