Myofunctional therapy

[sugarandplum]

Hi all,

I am just trying to figure out whether myofunctional therapy is worth exploring.

My DD, 6, has a very narrow palate - I don't know if this is the right term. She is basically always congested due to narrow airways - SaLT told us this.

She is a mouth breather and has had an adenoidectomy already. She still wets the bed and I read that this can be caused by mouth breathing.

Has anyone used a myofunctional therapist?
I am considering exploring this avenue but I can't figure out if it is a worthy treamtent pathway and worth the money or if it is a little bit of a placebo/ hoax.

Apologies - I haven't explained this v well as I'm really tired!

Any ideas?
Tia

Funny you should post this. I’m an SLT and this is coming up a lot recently in our profession. I really really don’t buy it. I did refer a child for it once and his parents said it felt like a cult and they were being pushed to do things like palate expansion which was invasive. I know therapists who utterly swear by it and think that those of us who don’t use it are missing a huge element of what is going on for some of these kids but for me the evidence isn’t there YET. The studies are weak, small sample sizes and just poorly designed. I just can’t make a strong recommendation for it personally. I am open to being convinced but I want to see better research and evidence.

Thanks for your reply.

It's so difficult to actually find proper scientific evidence to support it. I have heard anecdotally, that it has worked wonders but this is all third hand and not directly linked to anyone I know.

Looking online it looks like it covers everything which is a problem for my daughter but I don't want to subject her to more treatment and exercises if it won't improve her quality of life.

It's a lottery when choosing a therapist too ... no way of knowing what the quality of the treatment will be like without taking a leap of faith!

Our SLT swore by one dentist but sadly he retired and she won't recommend someone unless she has had direct experience with them (which I'm grateful for)

Thanks for your insight