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It was a Tuesday afternoon and I was reviewing intake forms before the next session. Three families in that stack mentioned the same thing: they had an orthodontist referral slip sitting on the counter. One of them had been sitting there for six weeks.
None of them had followed up. Not because they didn't care. Because nobody had told them what to do next.
As a homeschooling mom myself, I notice how families receive information. When a referral arrives with no clear path attached, it doesn't get acted on. It gets set aside. I used to assume that parents would figure it out. I don't believe that anymore.
Here's what I believed when I opened Lasting Language Therapy: if a family cares enough to bring their child to an orthodontist, and the orthodontist cares enough to refer them for myo therapy, the next step will happen naturally. The referral will sort itself out.
That belief was wrong.
What I actually started seeing: referral slips that were weeks or months old. Parents who didn't understand the mechanism. Parents who didn't know that tongue posture and swallowing patterns are the reason orthodontic treatment can relapse. Parents who didn't know that a myofunctional therapist is a specific specialist, not a general category. One post in a braces community had 123 comments from parents who said versions of the same thing. "Took us 3 months to finally book it."
Three months. For a referral an orthodontist considered important enough to write down and hand to a parent.
That week with the three intake forms changed how I think about this practice. Making the path clear is not separate from the clinical work. It is the clinical work. If a family doesn't understand what myo therapy addresses, what tongue thrust actually does to a developing jaw, or what an intake consult even looks like, they're not going to book one. And their child is going to finish braces with the same muscle patterns that put pressure on those teeth in the first place.
If you're reading this and you have a referral slip somewhere in your house, you're not behind. You're not the first. And the next step is simple.
I put together a free resource that walks through exactly what to expect from the myo therapy process, what mouth breathing and lip closure have to do with orthodontic outcomes, and how the intake consult works. No commitment, no charge. Just the information the referral slip didn't come with.
Here's the link to learn more:
Amanda Smith, SLP
Lasting Language Therapy
Sandy Springs, GA
amanda@lastinglanguage.net
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