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Chew, Chew, Chew

We’ve been pretty busy over here are Speech Room News headquarters. There is new member of the team and he thinks he is a big help. He chewed up my flash drive, chewed my backpack, and a Speech Room News cup. Cooper is an EXPERT chewer.

Speech Room News Chews

Cooper also learned a new trick this week. I turned around and found him atop the coffee table, testing out these ARK Therapeutic Brick Sticks. He learned to climb over the baby gate. Sigh.

((ARK therapy tools are NOT intended for dogs. They are intended for humans with adult supervision. I have cleared the coffee table and Coop isn’t testing any more therapy materials. He is still climbing over the baby gate. Send help.))

So this therapy review is brought to you by Cooper the therapy hound. 9 weeks old and a chewing expert.

Ark Therapy Chewers

ARK Therapeutic sent me a box of their new chewable sensory necklaces and pencil toppers. I’m going to give you the details about them. Oral motor chew tools are an excellent way to provide oral stimulation, exercise the mouth muscles, build oral tone, and practice biting/chewing skills.  They can also be used as oral fidgets, redirecting finger/knuckle biting, chewing on shirts, etc. to a safer outlet.

Ark Therapy Brick Stick

The Brick Stick Chew Necklace comes in three different strengths (soft, extra tough, or xtra xtra tough). The chewing tool should be encouraged between the back molars to increase the most proprioceptive input into the masseter muscle.

Ark Therapy Krypto-bite

If you have older students seeking oral sensory input, ARK makes chewable pencil toppers. Chewing can be a very effective way to help calm, self-regulate, and focus, so these chewy tools are a perfect pairing for homework, note-taking, and more. As an added bonus, they also add extra weight to the pencil for increased hand awareness and to help the pencil comfortably rest in the web space between the thumb and pointer finger. I’m a reformed pen chewer (now a constant leg tapper during meetings) so I see a super specific need for these!

Ark Therapy Krypto-bite

The same prism shape is available in a necklace for another option.

Pros: Sensory kiddos need lots of options for chewing the Lego-style brick is really great for keeping the kids looking age appropriate in elementary school. The pencil toppers look inconspicuous enough to be used with children of many ages.

Cons: You need to be careful when providing the necklace chewers to children. They can’t chew on the necklace part.

Overall, I’m excited to have new chewelry in my therapy bag! To check out any of these materials more closely head over at the ARKTherapeutic website.

Product for review were provided by Ark, no other compensation was provided, the opinions here are Coopers (and mine).

 

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Welcome! The Speech Room News® is a speech therapy blog for speech-language pathologists and other educators. I use this space of the internet to share the news from my speech room to yours!  I’m so glad you’ve found me!

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