Course Overview: Understanding, Assessing, and Treating Oral Habits in Children

Welcome to the Breathe Oral Habits Program - Level One, where we explore the root causes of noxious oral habits, their impact on growth and development, and your role in supporting patients and their families! This course is led by oral habit experts, Carla Lejarraga and Dr. Anna Gross, who will guide you through the complexities of oral habits in children—from assessment to treatment. You'll learn how to effectively address habits such as thumb-sucking in infants, toddlers, and school-age children using easy-to-implement protocols.

Why Attend This Program?

As healthcare providers, it's crucial to understand that oral habits like thumb-sucking and nail-biting are not just simple behaviors—they can have lasting effects on a child’s facial structure, jaw growth, and overall development. The Breathe Oral Habits Program - Level One equips you with the tools and knowledge to effectively identify, assess, and treat these habits to prevent complications such as overbites, poor tongue posture, and hindered jaw growth.

This program covers the "Why, What, and How" of noxious habits, offering a comprehensive approach to helping children overcome these challenges and ensuring their proper orofacial growth and development.

What You’ll Learn:

• Techniques to Eliminate Oral Habits: Proven strategies to address and eliminate habits like thumb-sucking and nail-biting.
• Behavioral Modification Strategies: Gain insight into effective methods for modifying a child's behavior in a gentle and supportive way.
• Clinical Tools for Habit Breaking: Learn how to integrate habit-breaking tools and interventions into your practice.

Course Highlights:

• Comprehensive Assessment Techniques: Learn how to thoroughly assess oral habits and their impact on growth.
• Effective Treatment Sequencing: Gain the skills to create and implement effective treatment plans.
• On-Demand Learning: Recordings of each live session will be available, allowing you to review at your convenience.
• Expert Guidance: Learn directly from two of the leading experts in the field—Carla Lejarraga, RDH, OMT, and Dr. Anna Gross, SLPD, CCC-SLP, CLC—who bring extensive experience and a wealth of knowledge to this course.

Course Dates and Details:

• Dates: October 28th, November 4th, November 11th, November 18th, 2024
• Time: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM PT
• Location: Zoom (Links will be sent the evening before each session)
• Format: Four live, 2-hour sessions with recordings available afterward for on-demand viewing.

Access: Additional resources, lecture slides, and videos will be accessible via our course platform at www.breathecourses.com/login.

Breathe Oral Habits Course Offerings

Week 1: Introduction to Oral Habits

• Identify common oral habits (e.g., thumb sucking, pacifier use) and their potential impacts on oral and developmental health.
• Describe how early development influences oral health and habits, starting from fetal stages.
• Analyze the anatomy involved in oral habits and the role these structures play in normal vs. problematic development.
• Explain the importance of determining and addressing the underlying causes of oral habits.
• Compare various treatment methodologies.

Week 2: Assessment of Oral Habits

• Describe the process of administering and analyzing a comprehensive case history for patients with oral habits, incorporating medical, dental, developmental, environmental, and behavioral factors.
• Analyze oral habits including frequency, habit cycles, duration, intensity, and triggers.
• Examine how root causes of oral habits are identified through assessment questionnaires, interviews, and clinical procedures.

Week 3: Treatment of Oral Habits

• Discuss implementation of habit elimination science to develop individualized treatment plans for patients with oral habits.
• Create a tailored treatment strategy for managing oral habits, integrating evidence-based approaches to address the severity, triggers, and underlying causes identified during the patient’s assessment.
• Design an effective long-term treatment plan for patients with oral habits, selecting appropriate interventions based on the analysis of habit patterns, patient history, and potential impact on health and development.

Week 4: Treatment of Oral Habits con’t

• Explore communication strategies for recommending interventions to parents, ensuring they understand the goals, strategies, and their role in supporting their baby or child's progress.
• Analyze case studies of patients with oral habits to identify key contributing factors, evaluate the effectiveness of past interventions, and recommend evidence-based treatment strategies.
• Apply principles of motivation and learning science to design effective strategies for habit elimination, integrating evidence-based techniques to encourage patient and parent engagement in the treatment of oral habits.

• October 28th, 2024: 5:00pm - 7:00pm PT
• November 4th, 11th, & 18th 2024: 5:00pm - 7:00pm PT

Online

SPEAKERS

DR. ANNA GROSS, SLPD, CCC-SLP, CLC

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CARLA LEJARRAGA

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