Speech, Feeding, & Myofunctional Therapy
Welcoming clients from the Richmond, VA area to our family-friendly Mechanicsville, VA clinic.
Where connection, play, and evidence-based care come together
Our Approach to Therapy
At Sunshine Speech Therapy, we believe therapy should be joyful, engaging, and centered on connection. Our sessions are play-based, neuroaffirming, and completely individualized to meet each child’s needs. We collaborate closely with families and make sure you feel supported, informed, and part of the process every step of the way. Our team is highly trained, deeply caring, and here to help your child thrive.
The first step to understanding your child’s needs and creating a plan that works.
Evaluations
Before beginning therapy, we take the time to truly understand your child. Evaluations include formal testing, clinical observation, a parent interview, and oral motor or feeding exams when appropriate. We use these insights to develop a personalized treatment plan that targets your child’s unique needs and goals. After the evaluation, you’ll receive a written summary with our recommendations, therapy goals, and next steps.
Speech & Feeding Therapy for Children & Teens
Childhood Apraxia of Speech • Articulation & Phonological Disorders • Stuttering • Speech Delays • Late Talkers • Expressive & Receptive Language • Social Communication
Speech Therapy
Speech therapy at Sunshine is fun, play-based, and tailored to your child’s needs. We help children improve their speaking, expression, understanding, and interaction with others, all in a warm and supportive environment.
During speech therapy, we will help your child:
Learn how to say sounds and words to increase their speech clarity
Improve motor planning and coordination for accurate and consistent speech production
Follow directions, ask and answer questions, share stories, and participate in conversations
Build the foundation for clear and confident communication
Our goal is to help your child use their brain and body's ability to learn the skills to communicate as effectively as possible at home, school, and everywhere in between.
Picky Eating • Sensory Aversions • Dysphagia • Swallowing
Feeding Therapy
We take a gentle, supportive approach to feeding therapy that helps children feel safe exploring food and building their feeding and swallowing skills. Your feeding therapist will take the time to dig into the “why” behind your child’s feeding challenges and create a plan that meets their sensory, motor, and emotional needs.
Feeding therapy will help your child:
Develop the motor plans and coordination for chewing and swallowing
Expand the variety of foods they will eat
Reduce mealtime stress and anxiety around food and eating
Reduce sensory-based food aversions
Feeding therapy not only helps kids build confidence around food and improves their nutrition, but it also reduces stress around eating, allowing everyone to enjoy mealtimes again.
Myofunctional Therapy for Children, Teens, & Adults
Myofunctional therapy is a gentle, personalized approach that helps improve how the muscles of the face and mouth work together for things like breathing, eating, and speaking. Whether you're here for your child or yourself, the team at Sunshine Speech Therapy is here to help you feel confident every step of the way.
-
Myofunctional disorders can affect people of all ages (children, teens, and adults). These disorders impact how the muscles of the face, mouth, and tongue work together, which can cause challenges with eating, breathing, speaking, sleeping, and even how the face develops over time.
Many people adapt without realizing that the root cause of their struggles, like speech challenges, poor sleep, or ongoing congestion, may be related to a myofunctional issue.
Common signs of a myofunctional disorder include:
Tongue sticking out when speaking, eating, or swallowing (tongue thrust)
Mouth breathing or open mouth posture, even at rest
Snoring, restless sleep, or bedwetting in children
Difficulty chewing, frequent gagging, or spitting out food
Messy eating or food falling from the mouth
Drooling beyond toddler years
A history of tongue, lip, or cheek ties
Difficulty accurately producing speech sounds
Frequent congestion without illness
Forward head posture or poor body alignment
Jaw tension, headaches, or neck pain
Myofunctional disorders can affect daily life in big and small ways. With the support of a trained myofunctional therapist, these patterns can be improved, leading to better sleep, clearer speech, more efficient eating, and long-term wellness.
-
Myofunctional therapy helps retrain the muscles of the face, mouth, and tongue to work together as they’re meant to, for improved breathing, eating, and speaking.
Using gentle, targeted exercises and simple routines, we guide clients in building healthy habits like proper tongue placement, nasal breathing, and stronger oral coordination.
These small changes can make a big difference, supporting clearer speech, more effective chewing and swallowing, better sleep, and overall health and wellness.
-
Myofunctional therapy targets the root cause of many speech, breathing, feeding, and sleep challenges by retraining the muscles of the mouth, face, and tongue to work more efficiently.
Through guided exercises and consistent support, we help strengthen oral motor function, improve tongue and jaw movement, and promote healthier patterns for speaking, eating, and breathing.
At Sunshine Speech Therapy, your myofunctional therapist will guide you to better sleep, clearer speech, easier mealtimes, and long-term improvements in overall health and function.
-
Tongue, lip, or buccal ties can impact feeding, speech, sleep, and overall oral function. We work closely with trusted providers to assess and identify whether your child may benefit from a release.
Our support includes:
Thorough assessments of oral structure and function
Pre-op therapy to prepare the muscles for release
Post-op therapy to retrain movement and promote optimal results
Our approach ensures your child gets the care they need before, during, and after the release process.