Exercise 2 - Closed Lip Eating
Duration: Eat everything correctly. While eating everything, lightly close your lips and make sure they remain relaxed and that your tongue does not push forward against your teeth as you swallow.
Frequency: During all eating for 7 days

1. Food to Mouth: Bring a piece of food up to your mouth. Do not let your tongue or lips reach out for the food.
2. Bite: Bite down on your back teeth.
3. Chew: Chew the food with your lips gently closed and move the food back into your mouth as you chew.
4. Bolus Formation: When you have chewed the food long enough that it sticks together. Use your lips and cheeks to suck it onto the middle of your tongue forming a bolus or ball.
5. The Spot: Put the tip of your tongue on the bumpy spot behind your top front teeth (the alveolar ridge).
6. Bite: Bite down on your back teeth.
7. Relaxed Lips: Lightly close your lips and keep them relaxed.
8. Swallow: Swallow the food making sure that your lips remain relaxed during the swallow and that your tongue does not push forward against your teeth.

Tips for this exercise:

1. Make sure to bring the food to your mouth, not your mouth to the food.
2. While swallowing your tongue should not push against or past your teeth. Your tongue should not push forward at all.
3. This exercise should be completed anytime you need to eat anything. At the end of each day you should track how well you completed this exercise. Write an "A" for "all" on the tracking sheet if you ate everything correctly that day. Write a "P" for "part" on the tracking sheet if you ate part of your food correctly that day. Write an "N" for "none" on the tracking sheet if you did not eat anything correctly at all that day.

Exercise 3 - Closed Lip Drinking
Duration: Drink everything you drink correctly with closed, relaxed lips. You can do this using either one swallow drinking or three swallow drinking. However, do not smile or open your lips before your swallow in these exercises.
Frequency: During all drinking for 7 days

Closed Lip - Three Swallow Drinking

1. The Spot: Put the tip of your tongue on the bumpy spot behind your top front teeth (the alveolar ridge).
2. Bite: Bite down on your back teeth.
3. Head Straight: Hold your head straight.
4. Raise Drink: Raise the drink up to your mouth.
5. Swallow: Take 3 consecutive swallows of the water, keeping your tongue tip on the spot, your teeth closed, and your head straight. Then put the drink down.

Tips for this exercise:

1. Look at your tongue in a mirror during the entire exercise.
2. Make sure to bring the drink to your mouth, not your mouth to the drink.
3. Wrap your lips around the cup, keeping your teeth closed the entire time during the drink. Don’t wrap your teeth around the drink.
4. While swallowing your tongue should not push against or past your teeth. Your tongue should not push forward at all.

Closed Lip - One Swallow Drinking

1. The Spot: Put the tip of your tongue on the bumpy spot behind your top front teeth (the alveolar ridge).
2. Bite: Bite down on your back teeth.
3. Head Straight: Hold your head straight.
4. Raise Drink: Raise the drink up to your mouth.
5. Sip: Close your lips and sip the water into your mouth (without swallowing).
6. Relaxed Lips: Lightly close your lips and keep them relaxed.
7. Swallow: Swallow the water making sure that your lips remain relaxed during the swallow and that your tongue does not push forward against your teeth.

Tips for this exercise:

1. Look at your tongue in a mirror during the entire exercise.
2. Make sure to bring the drink to your mouth, not your mouth to the drink.
3. While swallowing, your tongue should not push against or past your teeth. Your tongue should not push forward at all.

Exercise 4 - 100 Saliva Swallows
Duration: Until you have completed 100 swallows
Frequency: 3 times a day for 7 days

1. The Spot: Put the tip of your tongue on the bumpy spot behind your top front teeth (the alveolar ridge).
2. Place Mint: Hold a sugarless mint inside your cheek to stimulate saliva flow.
3. Bite Down: When you have enough saliva to swallow, bite your back teeth together.
4. Close Lips: Close your lips, keeping them relaxed.
5. Swallow: With your lips closed and relaxed, suck back your saliva and swallow. Make sure that your tongue does not push forward against your teeth as you swallow.
6. Repeat: Continue swallowing as quickly as possible. Practice in groups of 10 swallows with breaks in between each group of 10 until you have completed 100 swallows. Do not bite or chew the mint during the exercise. Try to keep your throat relaxed to assist in quicker practice. Move the mint around your mouth and tongue to increase your saliva production to make it easier to swallow frequently. You may require more than one mint during each practice.

Tips for this exercise:

1. Relax your throat. Try to swallow short quick swallows.
2. Keep track of your swallows in 10 swallow increments, trying to complete at least 10 swallows at a time before taking a break.
3. Complete this exercise while going about your normal routine. Complete your 100 swallows while in the shower, getting ready for the day, while driving in the car, while sitting in class or at work, etc.
4. Realize that the large amount of correct swallows completed during this last week of the program is helping to re-establish a new muscle memory swallowing pattern which will allow you to keep swallowing correctly in the future without having to focus your attention on your swallowing.
5. While completing all 100 swallows, your tongue should not push against or past your teeth. Your tongue should not push forward at all.

Worksheet Week 10

Click here to open Worksheet #10.