The Experience That Changed Everything

A personal experience that reshaped my clinical path and ultimately became the foundation of the work I do today.
 

Before I ever became an orofacial myologist, this was personal. As both a speech-language pathologist and a mom, I recognized early that something wasn’t quite right with my daughter’s tongue posture. She was only two years old, and I knew enough to know I should pay attention but not enough to fully understand what it could mean long-term.

Finding answers wasn’t easy.
 

Like many parents, I was told versions of “let’s wait and see” or that orthodontics would eventually fix the issue.
 

But by the time she was seven, the impact was impossible to ignore. Her teeth were significantly affected, and what initially looked like “just a braces issue” turned out to be something much bigger.
 

What I didn’t fully understand at the time was how much oral function, tongue posture, breathing, and facial development are all connected.
 

That realization changed everything for me.

Watching my daughter go through years of orthodontic treatment, appliances, and myofunctional therapy opened my eyes in a completely different way... not just as a clinician, but as a mother.

It made me ask bigger questions.
 

It pushed me to seek deeper training.
 

And it completely shifted the direction of my clinical work.
 

What started as a search for answers for my own child became a passion for helping other clinicians recognize these patterns sooner, understand the bigger picture, and ultimately create better outcomes for the children and families they serve.
 

Because sometimes what looks like the obvious problem… isn’t actually the real problem at all.