GUESS-THE-TAP

Myofunktional Exercise  Collect ion

Application:

With this exercise we set out to restitute the surface sensitivity of the total tongue outside. It may be underdeveloped primarily or as a consequence of overstraining by dysfunctions as togue pressing or biting.

Contents:

Foreign manipulated stimulation of the tongue surface with the allegation to localize and to define the stimulus.

Materials:

Small skewer,  perhaps a small piece of ice.

Procedure:

- Previous exercises: Potentially exercises for the POINT to sensitize the tongue tip.

-Starting position: Not specific.

- Step-by-step-description:

-1 The mouth is opened and the tongue is held stuck out a bit ( with the tendency of a proversion the exercise may be carried out while the tongue remains in deep position within the oral cavity).

-2 The therapist taps with the instrument (see ‘Materials’) on the tongue surface at a random site.

-3 The flatly outstretched hand of the patient is to symbolize the tongue. With the index finger of the other hand the patient now points to the site of the flat hand at which, analogously,  the touch of the instrument is felt in the mouth.

In the beginning the therapist will have to revise.

-Timing: A special time management is not required for this exercise.

Characteristics:

Surface sensitivity, organ stereognosis.

Remarks:

With a tendency for vomiting the measure may be restricted to the front part of the tongue and the testing area be expanded more retrally in the course of the work-out.

Discussion:

The exercise is suitable as an element within a UNIT-CONSTRUCTION-SYSTEM of the entire therapy course:

For the beginning the tongue tip gets trained through the respective exercises ( see TONGUE-TIP-ORIENTATION ) then it will be followed by the here discussed exercise and consequently the exercise COUNT-THE-TEETH.

Through this procedure there will result a stepwise construction of firstly the kinetics and secondly kinaesthetics. In the follow it may be proceeded furthermore to a foreign-body stereognosis as, for example, with GUESS-THE-FORM.

Instructions:

For this exercise you may need some help.

The tongue is taught feeling. this is immensely important for tongues. Not only that it has to be identified what sort of food gets into the mouth but further it should be recognized if there might be some thing indigestible as, for example, a pin. Moreover the tongue should be able to feel out if the teeth are standing on it or if it itself is pressing against them as to bend them over.

Our assistant, now, will have the task to tap on the tongue with some instrument as a small skewer (match without its head) on a random point of the tongue.

To define the touch point precisely we need a map of the tongue. We will make us one out of our one hand; this, now, represents your tongue. The index finger of your free hand will then point on the ‘map’ hand on to the very site at which the skewer is tapping the real tongue.