Teaching Straw Drinking with the Honey Bear Cup: Step by Step

Straw drinking looks simple, but it is one of the richest oral-motor exercises there is: it asks for lip rounding, tongue retraction, a sealed cheek-and-lip system and coordinated sucking and swallowing — the same building blocks that support clear speech and safe feeding. For children who cannot yet manage it, the TalkTools® Honey Bear is the classic starting tool.

Why a squeezable bear?

The Honey Bear is the original controlled-flow therapy cup: a soft, squeezable bottle fitted with a straw. Because the adult can gently squeeze liquid up the straw and into the child’s mouth, the child does not need a strong, coordinated suck to get started — they experience success on day one, and the demand is increased gradually from there. It is widely used for:

• teaching a first straw-drinking pattern;
• developing lip rounding and tongue retraction (the tongue pulling back rather than pushing forward under the straw);
• transitioning away from bottles or spouted sippy cups;
• children with low oral tone, Down syndrome, or feeding difficulties where a standard straw is not yet achievable.

Step by step

1. Fill the bear with a liquid the child enjoys — motivation does half the work. Slightly thicker liquids move more slowly and can be easier to control at the start.
2. Rest the straw on the lips, not deep in the mouth. The aim is for the lips to round around the straw tip — not for the child to bite it or anchor it with the tongue.
3. Squeeze gently so a small amount of liquid reaches the mouth. Pause. Let the child swallow. This links “straw in mouth” with “liquid arrives” without demanding a full suck.
4. Wait for the suck — after a few assisted sips, squeeze and hold briefly, then release: many children begin to draw the liquid themselves. Reward every attempt.
5. Fade the squeeze over sessions: squeeze less, later, and eventually not at all. The child is now straw drinking independently.
6. Progress the skill — once the basic pattern is solid, therapists often move to the TalkTools® Straw Kit, a graded hierarchy of straws that vary in bore and length to progressively build tongue retraction, lip seal and sucking endurance.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Straw too far in — encourages biting and tongue-under-straw habits instead of lip rounding.
• Squeezing too much, too fast — flooding the mouth teaches the child to brace, not to suck. Small sips, always.
• Rushing the fade — keep assisting until the child’s own suck is consistent; the pattern matters more than the sip. In oral-motor work, the movement being trained is the goal — the successful sip is just the evidence.

Getting one in South Africa

SpeechLab stocks the genuine TalkTools® Honey Bear locally (replacement straws included), shipped anywhere in South Africa. If feeding is your clinical focus, the self-study course Feeding Therapy: A Sensory Motor Approach covers the assessment and treatment framework these tools belong to.

If a child coughs, chokes, or consistently struggles with liquids, stop and consult a speech-language therapist or feeding specialist before continuing — controlled-flow tools are powerful, but they belong inside a plan that fits the specific child.