Autism and Nonverbal? Can’t Find the Cheeks? Try This 👦🏽🖐🏽 | Autism PT #9

👋🏽 Hi, I’m Amy Sturkey, a retired pediatric physical therapist with over 35 years of experience. When a child has difficulty with motor planning, even simple movements—like using the muscles of the face—can be challenging. Learning often begins with hands-on guidance, repetition, and consistent practice to help the child understand what their body is supposed to do. 💙 👩🏽‍👦🏽 Meet Palaash and His Mom, Nemu In this video, you’ll see Palaash, a 12-year-old with autism, working with his mom, Nemu. Palaash communicates primarily by typing on a QWERTY communication device and is not yet able to speak verbally. His parents are deeply involved in his care, and he participates in speech therapy, physical therapy, and therapeutic swim lessons. I previously worked with Palaash as his physical therapist, and it has been a privilege to continue supporting his progress over time. 🌱 🟩 What You’ll See in This Video This is Video #9 in Palaash’s series and focuses on cheek movements using the Webber Oral Motor Photo Cards. These movements can be difficult for children with oral motor dyspraxia due to challenges with motor planning, strength, and body awareness. Early on, Palaash had difficulty even locating his cheeks, requiring hands-on guidance to learn the movement. In this session, you’ll see three cheek activities: ✔🏽 Pulling the cheeks down using the fingers ✔🏽 Pushing the cheeks up using the fingers ✔🏽 “Fish face” (drawing the cheeks in and pushing the lips forward) Nemu models the movement, assists as needed, and then allows Palaash to practice independently. We focus on: • Helping him locate and become aware of his cheeks • Practicing each movement with repetition • Counting to support engagement and rhythm • Building strength and coordination over time You’ll also see something important—Palaash often performs the movement better by the 10th repetition than the first. This highlights how repetition supports motor learning. The “fish face” is still a work in progress, but even partial movement is meaningful at this stage. This video demonstrates a key principle: before a child can perform a movement independently, they often need repeated opportunities to feel and practice that movement. 🪞💪🏾 For Parents and Therapists If you’re supporting a child who is autistic, nonverbal, or working on oral motor control, this video offers insight into: • Building awareness of facial muscles • Teaching new movements through hands-on guidance • Using repetition to improve performance within a session • Supporting motor learning through daily routines • Accepting partial movement as meaningful progress 🔍 About the Oral Motor Cards I am not affiliated with Super Duper and receive no financial incentive if you click the link below. I’m sharing this resource because I used it regularly in clinical practice. 🔗 Webber Photo Oral Motor Cards https://www.superduperinc.com/webber-oralmotor-photo-cards.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqEjJtIWYTYlXkBlwZ3joZVO19q6fJQl8dmKO-CyrniYLxIbaPE 🎥 Watch Palaash’s Full Video Series 👉🏽 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAkJbMrHyKjPwLKSTp9mZBxo0RujvdTYO 🌈🌐 Stay Connected 🌐 Website: www.pediatricPTexercises.com 📘 Facebook: Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises 📧 Email: amysturkey@gmail.com Please note: I cannot provide treatment recommendations for a child I have not personally evaluated. 📚 Children’s Educational Books 📘 P is for Poop and Pee Accidents https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLSRJ483 📘 A is for Anxiety https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LXQ3W6V 📘 A is for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QH9H5HR 📘 C is for Cerebral Palsy https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088TSJCYP 📘 D is for Down Syndrome https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079P8HH49 📘 A is for Autism https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071F4FFTB 📘 Professional Books for Pediatric Therapists 📗 Pediatric Physical Therapy Strengthening Exercises for the Hips https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998156736 📗 Pediatric Physical Therapy Strengthening Exercises for the Knees https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998156760 📗 Pediatric Physical Therapy Strengthening Exercises for the Ankles https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TX2ZCFD 🌍 Captions & Accessibility ▶️ To turn on captions: Click CC 🌐 To change caption language: Settings → Subtitles/CC → Auto-translate