Tuli Success Stories
Prevent speech disorders with the Exercise Pacifier
The Exercise Pacifier is really ”an intelligent pacifier”, explains Marja-Leena Haapanen, senior lecturer in phoniatry. Despite the eloquent name, the Exercise Pacifier is not a piece of electronic sports equipment for kids, but a tool for preventing and decreasing children’s speech disorders.
Haapanen, who works as Senior Physician at the Phoniatry Clinic in the Hospital District of Helsinki, has over 40 years of experience in speech therapy and children’s speech disorders. She started developing the pacifier in 2003, from a very practical starting point: no suitable tools for her work were available.
”Children have a lot of speech disorders, but there hasn’t been suitable equipment for correcting speech disorders of under 4-year olds, until now. With the aid of the Exercise Pacifier, speech orders can be prevented starting from as early as the first few months of the children’s lives”, says Haapanen.
The Exercise Pacifier helps the child to perform tongue movements that are needed in producing various sounds. At the same time, the child experiences tactile sensations and makes observations of his/her tongue movement.
Haapanen received a patent for her invention in the spring 2005 and immediately contacted the innovation manager at the University of Helsinki. Tuli offered funding and helped in finding a suitable partner, and also aided with the contract negotiations and in preparing the final licensing contract.
”My experiences with Tuli were professional, positive and healthily critical. The whole process was handled superbly”, says Haapanen.
The licensing deal was done with Mekalasi Ltd, and the company is well on their way in taking the pacifier to the markets.
