Speech Therapy
CHANGE YOUR LIFE WITH
Welcome to Matters of the Mouth, a Speech Pathologist specializing in tongue ties, myofunctional therapy, and body work for all ages in Pulaski, TN! Our goal is to determine the underlying cause of dysfunction and adapt treatment to address each need specifically.
Myofunctional Therapy
Correct breathing, bite, and orofacial posture through various exercises.
how we can help
CLICK TO EXPAND EACH SECTION BELOW.

tongue ties
Infant oral function therapy focuses on improving tongue function to increase suction with breast and bottle feeding for more efficient feedings, improved weight gain and decreased colic, gas, reflux, and spit up symptoms. During the initial evaluation the infant will be assessed for tethered oral tissues. If identified, the trained clinician will provide education on treatment options, offer suggestions for highly trained medical professionals for tethered oral tissue releases, and help prepare families for surgical intervention when needed.
Oral function therapy is ongoing during the process of tethered oral tissue release to continue to address tongue strength and endurance with new increased range of motion.
Did you know the way your tongue forms in utero can vastly affect how your oral and facial structures develop and function? Research over the last decade has revealed that how our oral structure develops can affect more than just our pretty smiles.
Tethered oral tissues, often referred to as tongue tie (lip tie, buccal ties), restrict the movement of the tongue, which can lead to poor jaw development, feeding difficulties, poor airway health, TMJ, oral pain, and much more. These problems can lead to a lifetime of difficulty, pain, and even severe health disorders.
- Infants
- Struggle to breastfeed or bottle feed?
- Leak milk while eating?
- Clicking or quacking when eating?
- Poor weight gain or insatiable appetite?
- Gastrointestinal symptoms, gas, reflux, or colic frequently?
- Children
- Restless sleep patterns?
- Speech is difficult to understand?
- Exhibit slow or picky eating?
- Difficulty with liquid foods?
- Hypersensitive gag reflex?
- Teeth grinding, snoring, or sleeping with mouth open?

Myofunctional Therapy
Myofunctional therapy was developed to treat Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders (OMDs). Think of it as physical therapy for the mouth! The goal of myofunctional therapy is to improve breathing, bite, and orofacial posture through exercises that target and train to improve resting tongue posture.
Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders (OMDs) affect the functions and muscles of the mouth and face. OMDs can cause a variety of effects either directly or indirectly. From problems breastfeeding, stunted facial skeletal growth and development, disordered chewing, swallowing, speech impediments, malocclusion, temporomandibular joint movement/disorders, poor oral hygiene, stability of orthodontic treatment, facial esthetics, and more.
OMDs affect all ages and can have a different impact on an individual’s quality of life based on the severity of the disorder and time left untreated. A few examples of untreated OMDs include:
- Poor sleep, snoring
- Headaches, TMJ pain, or jaw locking/popping
- Prolonged oral habits (thumb sucking, pacifier, etc)
- Feeding difficulties
- Poor speech, mouth always open
- Drooling, chapped lips
- Crooked teeth, long facial growth
- Recessed chin, heart-shaped tongue
- Enlarged tonsils, difficulty nasal breathing
- Dark circles under eyes, difficulty swallowing
- Teeth grinding, bedwetting
- Frequent ear infections, digestive issues
- Depression, anxiety, fatigue
- Daytime drowsiness, ADD/ADHD
- Teeth clenching, relapse of orthodontic treatment

body work
Dr. Barry Gillespie discovered the Craniosacral Fascial System, which consists of a slight motion of the brain and spinal cord, pumping cerebrospinal fluid into the fascial web that connects every structural cell of the body. When physical and/or emotional traumas adversely tighten this freely moving system, tremendous pressure can be exerted on associated nerves, muscles, organs, blood vessels, lymph vessels and bones. Profound effects on body function may result as a major cause of health conditions.
resources
Tethered Oral Tissues (TOTs) (Tongue, Lip, Buccal ties)
https://www.zaghimd.com/tongue-tie
https://www.zaghimd.com/frenuloplasty-how-we-do-it
Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders
https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/orofacial-myofunctional-disorders/
Myofunctional Therapy
https://aomtinfo.org/myofunctional-therapy/
https://www.zaghimd.com/myofunctional-therapy
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8306407/
Airway Health
https://thebreatheinstitute.com/
Craniosacral Therapy (CST)
https://www.upledger.com/therapies/
Craniosacral Fascial Therapy (CFT)
https://www.gillespieapproach.com/
- Dr. Richard Baxter (Birmingham, AL)
- Dr. Sarah Clayton (Columbia, TN)
- Dr. Daron Clark (Nashville, TN)
- Dr. D. Kennon Curtis (Madison, AL)
- Dr. Paige Prather (Franklin, TN)
- Dr. Ford Gatgens (Dickson, TN)
Meet the specialist
Laura Rowland MSP, CCC-SLP
Laura received her Bachelor's of Psychology from The University of Illinois in 2001 and Master's of Speech-Language Pathology from The University of South Carolina in 2006. In addition to her 18 years of experience, she has acquired many other certifications.
After graduating with my masters in Speech-Language Pathology in 2006, I began my professional journey primarily working in hospitals, home health, and long term care facilities with the adult population. After the birth of my children, Ella and Everly, and the struggles we faced with breast and bottle feeding, I began to seek out specialized continuing education in infant oral function and feeding therapy. From the spring of 2019 to the fall of 2023, I have completed hundreds of hours of education, read countless books, and soaked up as much knowledge as possible on oral structure, function, related dysfunction, and how to provide holistic therapeutic intervention in order to reach as many families as possible and help them on their journey.
Over the last five years, I have provided pediatric based therapy at another outpatient therapy clinic, but felt limited in my ability to treat with a holistic approach. I proudly opened my private practice doors in July 2023 and am proud to serve Giles county and surrounding areas with a highly specialized and function based approach to speech therapy for all ages.
- TOTS: Tethered Oral tissues Specialty Training; April 2019
- Ororfacial Myology: Make the Connection; November 2020
- Precrawling infant pre and post frenectomy oral motor and whole body therapy for OT/SLP; course by Michelle Emmanuel; March 2022
- The Stones Approach, Advanced Myofunctional Therapy course; July 2023
- Upledger Institute’s CS1: Craniosacral Therapy 1: Assessment of central nervous system and fascia for full body treatment protocol; March 2022
- Upledger Institiute’s CS2: Craniosacral therapy 2: Moving beyond the dura for assessing acute and chronic conditions; November 2022
- CFT Foundation Training - Gillespie Approach; April 2022
- CFT Infant Training - Gillespie Approach; April 2022


My oldest daughter, Ella, was born in early spring 2013 in Nashville, TN. I had hoped to exclusively breastfeed her but, immediately after birth, we faced difficulty with obtaining an adequate latch. Although I begged for help from the hospital’s lactation consultants, all I was given was basic assistance with getting her to latch using a nipple shield and a pump with instructions to pump as often as possible and give her bottles after attempting to breastfeed at each feeding. We were discharged without any plans for continued help with breastfeeding. It took me between 10-15 minutes just to get Ella to latch each feeding and she would pop on and off arching her back and screaming. Feedings took 45 minutes to an hour each time and then I had to pump for 20 minutes, feed her again, and start the whole process all over again. She had terrible reflux and after spending an hour trying to get her to feed she’d promptly vomit it all over the place within minutes of finishing the feeding. She became very fussy at all hours of the day and was labeled “colicky.” My husband worked nights at the time and slept most of the day, so I had very little help, was getting less than an hour of sleep at a time and was quickly slipping into postpartum depression.
At my wits end, I decided to stop trying to breastfeed and exclusively pumped and provided Ella with bottles of breastmilk for the first 13 months of her life. I mourned the loss of that special bond and felt like a failure. As an aside, exclusively pumping is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do and I think all the mamas out there that exclusively pump deserve diamond tiaras!
Two and a half years later, when our youngest daughter Everly made her arrival, I decided that no matter what, I was going to breastfeed this baby. We faced very similar difficulties early on but, thankfully, I found a local breastfeeding support group and started attending meetings. They provided much needed emotional support and helped direct me to lactation consultants who helped encourage me not to give up. Everly was 4 months old, and still had such difficulty with latching and maintaining latch, that I felt uncomfortable going anywhere public when I knew a feeding time was near. I finally found a lactation consultant who did an oral structure examination and identified a posterior tongue tie. I had NO IDEA what that even was. Here I was, with a masters in speech-language pathology and I’d never even heard of a posterior tongue tie. At the time, there weren’t many tongue tie release providers around so we drove to Chattanooga and saw a pediatrician who specialized in frenectomy procedures (tongue tie releases). We were not given any post surgical instructions or stretches to complete.
After her tongue tie release, she continued to require the use of the nipple shield to latch, but was much more efficient and had a much deeper, more effective latch. We were able to maintain our breastfeeding relationship until she was two and a half years old. After two very different, but equally frustrating experiences with feeding my infants, I decided to pursue specialized education to become an advocate and resource for our community with moms facing similar difficulties.



what parents are saying...
SCHEDULE A CONSULT
Ready to meet our specialist? Complete the form below and a member of our team will contact you to get started.
Matters of the Mouth Speech Therapy
Summer Hours of Operation:
Mon - Thurs / 8AM - 4PM