Marjorie L. Snow, R.D.H., M.A., C.O.M.
Over thirty-five years ago a small but dedicated group of speech pathologists, with open minds and research orientation, banded together to form the nucleus of what is now the International Association of Orofacial Myology. Speech pathologists had been singled out by Dr. Walter Straub, a California orthodontist, as the professionals who were best suited to work at training tongues.
Prior to this time a few members of the dental and orthodontics communities of the United States and Europe were becoming aware that some malocclusions were the result of functional behaviors as opposed to genetic dental factors. They needed someone to work with these patients whom they described as deviate swallowers, one of the many descriptors which characterized this embryonic stage of orofacial myology. The small group of dedicated individuals who endorsed the hypothesis, along with a scattered few from the dental hygiene profession across the country, became the pioneers whose job it was to prove the concept was valid. This was no small task as the resistance, and in some cases ridicule, was pervasive.
As the number of true believers and consequently members of the IAOM grew, the focus of the organization during the last twenty six years has been to establish educational guidelines and to expand the body of knowledge while at the same time promoting research to provide a base of evidence. As the organization moved through it's infancy and adolescence, there has been an unwavering goal to have a master's level college curriculum available for people wishing to become orofacial myologists. Because of the diverse backgrounds of the people coming to orofacial myology from allied health professions, this curriculum would have to supplement the individual's original education to prepare them for clinical practice, i.e. dentistry for speech pathologists and speech pathology for dental hygienists. The IAOM has addressed the need for regulated educational opportunities and standardized college level credentialing. These goals have evolved over the past years until there are now appropriate professional requirements which meet the standards of other health care professionals, as well as the minimum requirements of the insurance industries. Incorporating these standards into college curriculum is still the dream but certainly is much closer than thirty years ago.