ARK Z-VIBE

ARK’s Z-Vibe® is a vibratory oral motor tool that can help build oral tone and improve a variety of speech, feeding and sensory skills. Use it to provide a varied sensory experience and/or to provide targeted tactile cues within the oral cavity. Its gentle vibration provides a new level of sensory stimulation to increase oral focus and draw more attention to the lips, tongue, cheeks, and jaw. Vibration can also be very calming, soothing and organising.

The Z-Vibe®’s sleek, innovative design features a lightweight, plastic handpiece with gentle bumps around its circumference for a non-slip grip. This texture can also be brushed along the cheeks, arms, hands, etc, for additional tactile input. The handle comes with a blue probe tip on one end and a switch tip on the other. Use the probe tip for oral motor assessment and development. To turn the unit on, simply twist the switch tip at the opposite end of the handle until the unit starts to vibrate.

Designed with versatility in mind, there are over 35 tip attachments available in various sizes, textures, and resiliencies. From spoons to toothbrushes to pencils and more, the same handle can shift goals simply by switching out one tip for another.

Features:

• Battery included – this is a special Vibe Battery not sold in stores (recommend buying a spare)
• Measures approximately 16.5cm in length and less than 1cm in diameter
• Recommended for individuals of all ages and abilities under the guidance of a therapist or a trained caregiver

Benefits:

Increase Oral Awareness:
The Z-Vibe is highly recommended for individuals with hyposensitivities and low oral tone. Its gentle vibration can help increase oral awareness and provide much needed proprioceptive input to the lips, cheeks, tongue, and jaw. For sensory-seekers who crave oral stimulation, massaging the gums with the soft brush tip can be particularly helpful.

Decrease Oral Sensitivities and Food/Texture Aversions:
The Z-Vibe is also recommended for hypersensitive individuals. In these cases, vibration as well as the various textures/shapes of the tips can help gradually desensitize the mouth and decrease oral aversions and sensory defensiveness.

Calm and Soothe:
Vibration can be a very helpful tool for calming and organizing. The Z-Vibe’s smooth vibration provides gentle sensory feedback to the lips, gums, tongue, jaw, and inside the cheek area. This oral input (under supervised use) can help decrease self-biting or chewing on one’s hands, shirts, pencils, etc.  While it is mostly used inside the oral cavity, it can also be used outside the mouth on the cheeks, neck, and arms for additional feedback.

Teach Biting and Chewing Skills:
Use the Z-Vibe with bite-n-chew to help develop and improve the oral motor skills necessary for feeding (such as a sustained bite, rhythmic chewing, jaw strength and stability, and more). As another option, the bite tube tip is essentially a hollow version – you can put puréed foods inside the tip for functional biting/chewing practice.  Because they’re hollow and therefore easier to bite, the Bite Tube Tips are also recommended for individuals with a weak bite.

Develop Oral Motor Skills:
The Z-Vibe provides a safe and effective way to work on the oral motor skills necessary to make speech sounds and to manage food. These skills include: lip/cheek/tongue awareness, lip closure, lip extension, jaw stability and grading, tongue and jaw dissociation, tongue elevation, tongue retraction and protrusion, tongue lateralization, and a tongue bowl. Using the Z-Vibe, therapists and caregivers can target specific movements within the oral cavity – physically demonstrating where the tongue, lips, and jaw should be for each skill. For specific exercises on how to improve these goals, consult the ARK Therapeutic blog and book – Tips & Techniques for the Z-Vibe.

Improve Oral Hygiene:
Use the brush tip for gentle gum massage and teeth cleaning and to transition individuals into the eventual use of a regular toothbrush. The tongue tip can also be used as a tongue scraper for dental care with the Z-Vibe.

Work on Writing Skills:
When used with the pen, pencil or crayon tips, the Z-Vibe becomes the Tran-Quill® Pen/Pencil/Crayon – an excellent tool for sensory motor needs. The vibration increases focus and attention while working on handwriting, homework, and other writing tasks, but does not affect the actual writing.

 Caution: the Z-Vibe is NOT a toy.  It is a therapeutic tool intended to be used by a professional therapist (or by parents trained by their therapist).  It contains small parts (including a battery) that may pose a choking hazard: direct adult supervision is required at all times.