Making Connections LLC

02/27/2026

I’m so excited to collaborate with Busy Bins Co. to bring simple, parent-friendly communication guides right into your home through their Subscription Club boxes!

As a Speech-Language Pathologist, one of my biggest goals is helping families feel confident supporting their child’s communication during everyday routines — especially through play.

Together, we created guides that show you how to:
✨ build language during sensory play
✨ support communication naturally at home
✨ turn playtime into meaningful connection moments

Because communication doesn’t just happen in the therapy room — it happens on the living room floor, at the kitchen table and during play.

This is play with purpose 💜

This collaboration is so close to my heart! 💜

I’m beyond excited to partner with Heather from Making Connections LLC, a licensed Speech Language Pathologist, to bring communication guides to every Busy Bins Co. Subscription Club box.

As an autism mama, I’ve seen firsthand how powerful communication support and speech therapy can be — not just for language growth, but for connection, confidence and play. That’s why this project feels extra meaningful.

Together, we created simple, parent-friendly guides that help you:
✨ build language through sensory play
✨ feel confident supporting communication at home
✨ turn everyday play into intentional connection moments

I truly cannot wait for families to experience these. This is play with purpose — and a collaboration rooted in passion, expertise and heart. 💜

02/26/2026

Ever feel like your child is always hungry… no matter how much they eat?

It might not be a growth spurt.
It might be their sleep.

When children have sleep-disordered breathing — such as mouth breathing, snoring, or airway restriction — their body doesn’t just feel tired. Their hunger hormones can become dysregulated.

Poor quality sleep can lead to:

⬆️ Increased ghrelin (the “I’m hungry” hormone)
⬇️ Decreased or disrupted leptin (the “I’m full” hormone)

When this happens, the brain may not receive strong signals that your child is full — even after a complete meal.

You might notice:
• Constant grazing
• Carb and sugar cravings
• Emotional meltdowns when hungry
• “Never full” behavior
• Rapid weight gain
• Fatigue-related eating

This isn’t always behavioral. It may be physiological.

Children who mouth breathe, snore, sleep restlessly, have enlarged tonsils, or show poor tongue posture may not be getting the deep, restorative sleep needed to properly regulate appetite hormones.

The good news? Improving nasal breathing, tongue posture, and airway health through orofacial myofunctional therapy may also support:

✨ Better sleep
✨ More regulated hunger cues
✨ Improved daytime energy
✨ Healthier metabolism

Sometimes addressing the airway helps the appetite, too.

If your child is always hungry AND snores or mouth breathes, it may be time to look beyond the plate and toward their airway.

📩 Message us to learn more about airway-focused myofunctional therapy.

02/19/2026

Is your child eating a lot… but still not chewing well? 👀

Many toddlers and young children are GREAT eaters — but may still be using immature chewing patterns that affect more than you realize.

Chewing is not just about getting food down. Efficient chewing supports:

• Food variety
• Digestion
• Speech development
• Jaw growth
• Airway health

🚩 Signs your child may not be chewing efficiently:

– Swallows food quickly without chewing much
– Uses their tongue to mash food instead of their teeth
– Prefers soft carbs (crackers, puffs, bread, pasta)
– Avoids meats or tougher textures
– Overstuffs their mouth
– Food falls out while chewing
– Frequently drinks to wash food down
– Open-mouth posture during meals

Efficient chewing should include side-to-side jaw movement, the tongue moving food to the molars, lip closure, and nasal breathing during meals.

When chewing skills are immature, children often compensate in ways that can impact feeding and overall orofacial development.

The good news? Chewing is a skill — and skills can be taught.

If you have concerns about your child’s feeding or oral motor development, a feeding evaluation can help identify what’s going on and how to support it early.

📩 Reach out to learn more or schedule an evaluation.

02/12/2026

🧩 Still working on feeding, mouth breathing, or oral habits — but something feels “stuck”?

The missing piece may not just be in the mouth.

Primitive reflexes are automatic movement patterns we are born with to help us suck, swallow, breathe, and move. These reflexes are meant to integrate as the nervous system matures. When they don’t fully integrate, they can continue to influence oral function, airway development, posture, and muscle coordination long after infancy.

Retained primitive reflexes may contribute to:
• Difficulty chewing and transitioning textures
• Tongue thrust and open-mouth posture
• Gagging, picky eating, or fatigue during meals
• Mouth breathing and poor nasal airflow
• Challenges maintaining a stable tongue-to-palate rest posture

In feeding therapy and orofacial myofunctional therapy, we look beyond symptoms. If the body is still operating in reflex-driven patterns, it can be harder to:
✔ Maintain lip closure
✔ Establish consistent nasal breathing
✔ Stabilize the jaw for chewing and speech
✔ Sustain correct tongue posture

That’s why we assess retained primitive reflexes alongside feeding and myofunctional evaluations. By combining reflex integration exercises, functional movement support, oral motor strategies, and airway-centered goals, we help build a stronger foundation for safer feeding, better breathing, and long-term progress.

If your child has made progress but continues to struggle with feeding, oral habits, or mouth breathing, reflex integration may be part of the solution.

📩 Reach out to schedule an evaluation and learn more.

02/09/2026

As one of the first practices in Columbia to provide laser frenectomies, Thomas Family Dental is a trusted provider for infant and toddler tongue- and lip-tie releases, often working alongside pediatricians, ENTs, and lactation consultants throughout the region. With advanced tools like the LightScalpel CO₂ laser, Dr. Thomas ensures treatment is gentle, precise, and promotes faster healing.

We are also proud to offer airway evaluations for children under 6, giving young patients the best possible foundation for healthy breathing, sleep, and facial growth. In addition to these specialty services, we provide restorative care, general family dentistry, and wellness-based treatments like cold sore therapy and red light therapy.

Our proactive, whole-health approach helps families stay ahead of dental issues and feel confident in their care. 🦷

02/04/2026

🧠✨ When progress feels slow, there may be a missing piece.

Did you know we’re all born with primitive reflexes that help us survive and develop in infancy? These early reflexes are designed to integrate (fade) as the brain matures. But when they don’t fully integrate, they can continue to impact a child’s development in ways that aren’t always obvious.

Retained primitive reflexes can affect:
• Feeding and chewing skills
• Speech clarity and oral motor coordination
• Posture, balance, and overall coordination
• Attention, emotional regulation, and learning
• Sleep quality, breathing, and nervous system regulation

You might notice things like ongoing feeding challenges, mouth breathing, difficulty sitting still, poor body awareness, or fatigue with school tasks. Many children work incredibly hard — but their nervous system may still be working against them.

💡 Our approach:
We assess retained primitive reflexes as part of a whole-body, functional evaluation. Therapy focuses on helping the nervous system mature through:
✔️ Targeted movement patterns
✔️ Oral motor and sensory integration strategies
✔️ Reflex integration exercises tailored to your child
✔️ Collaboration with other professionals when appropriate

Our goal is to help the body move, eat, breathe, speak, and learn more efficiently — not just compensate.

✨ If your child has made progress but still feels “stuck,” retained reflexes may be part of the puzzle.

📩 Message us to learn more or schedule an evaluation.

01/30/2026

😴 Still waking up tired—even after a full night’s sleep?
Snoring, dry mouth, jaw tension, brain fog, and low energy aren’t things you should just “live with.”

If you’ve been diagnosed with sleep apnea or sleep-disordered breathing, there may be a missing piece in your care: how your mouth and airway muscles function during sleep.

👄 Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT) focuses on strengthening and retraining the tongue, lips, jaw, and airway to support proper breathing—day and night.

✨ For adults, OMT can:
✔️ Improve airway stability
✔️ Reduce mouth breathing
✔️ Support nasal breathing
✔️ Complement CPAP, oral appliances, orthodontic, or ENT care
✔️ Improve sleep quality, focus, energy, and overall health

This isn’t a quick fix—it’s functional, evidence-based therapy that addresses the root cause of many sleep issues.

💤 Better breathing doesn’t just change your sleep.
✨ It can change your day.

📩 Curious if myofunctional therapy could support your sleep and airway health?
Send us a message to start the conversation.

AdultTherapy BetterBreathing FunctionalTherapy SleepWellLiveWell HolisticHealth

01/25/2026

Making Connections will be closed Monday, January 26 due to the weather and road conditions. Stay warm and safe!

01/21/2026

“Is this normal?” 🤔
If you’ve ever asked this as a parent — you’re not alone.

Wondering doesn’t mean something is wrong.
It means you’re paying attention — and that matters.

Some things are part of typical development.
Others can be early signs that extra support may help with speech, feeding, or oral habits.

Early support doesn’t mean labeling — it means guiding development when it matters most 💛

👇 Drop a ❤️ if this sounds familiar
📩 DM me or comment QUESTION if you’re unsure about your child’s speech, feeding, or oral habits.

01/19/2026

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today we reflect on the importance of kindness, equality, and standing up for one another. May we continue to teach our children to use their voices for good and to treat everyone with respect. 💙

01/14/2026

✨ My Word of the Year: CALM ✨

This year, I’m choosing calm — not as a lack of growth, but as an intentional way of living and leading.

Calm shows up in how I care for myself, how I run my business, and how I support the families I work with every day. A regulated nervous system creates space for learning, connection, and meaningful progress — especially in speech, feeding, and orofacial myofunctional therapy.

When we reduce pressure and increase safety, growth happens naturally. 🌿

✨ Your turn:
Do you choose a word of the year?
What word is guiding you in 2026?

Drop it in the comments 👇

01/08/2026

✨ New year. Real support. Real answers. ✨

If communication feels harder lately…
If feeding has become more challenging…
If new concerns around breathing or sleep showed up over the holidays…

You’re not overthinking it 🤍
These aren’t “phases” to wait out — they’re signals, and early support matters.

At our practice, we take an evidence-based, family-centered approach to speech therapy, feeding therapy, and myofunctional therapy — meeting families where they are and building skills that last, without added pressure.

Progress doesn’t come from guessing.
It comes from clarity, support, and a plan that fits real life. ✨

📍 Ready to take the next step? Book a consultation.