It starts with a question
Mary Billings, an SLP, starts focusing on orofacial myofunctional disorders — and on how rarely the disciplines that touch them actually talk to each other.
Our story
Critical-thinking clinicians, built by hands-on teaching
We exist to educate, inspire and develop critical thinking therapists and clinical skills across the globe in the treatment of orofacial myofunctional disorders.
2013 Founded
est. the academy
est. the academy
Our mission
Theory at home. Skill in the room.
“Educate, inspire and develop critical thinking therapists and clinical skills across the globe in the treatment of orofacial myofunctional disorders.”
- Hands-on, always. Theory belongs on video at home. Time together is for assessment, demonstration, and supervised practice — because clinical skill is built with your hands.
- Interdisciplinary by design. OMD lives at the intersection of speech, dentistry, breathing, and osteopathy. We teach across those lines, not around them.
- Critical thinkers, not technicians. Our mission is to develop clinicians who can reason through the case in front of them — not just follow a protocol.
Formerly “Make the Connection” Interdisciplinary by design
How we got here
From one question to a global classroom
FunctionFocus didn't start as an academy. It started with a clinician who wanted the disciplines around orofacial health to actually talk to each other.
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2007 -
2008 Building the mentoring network
Mary chairs the IAOM's first Mentoring Committee, growing it from four members to fifteen and laying the groundwork for a teaching philosophy built on mentorship.
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2012 Make The Connection launches
The flagship course is born, designed around hands-on, interdisciplinary, function-first learning that you can use with patients immediately.
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2013 FunctionFocus Academy is founded
What began as one course becomes an academy, with Patricia Fisher joining as co-instructor and a curriculum that networks across breathing, osteopathy, and dentistry.
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Today Thousands of clinicians, and counting
FunctionFocus has trained thousands of professionals across the globe, with advanced and online courses extending the connection further every year.
What we believe
The principles behind every course
Three convictions shape how we teach — and they're the reason graduates leave ready to treat, not just to take notes.
Hands-on, always
Theory belongs on video at home. Time together is for assessment, demonstration, and supervised practice — because clinical skill is built with your hands.
Interdisciplinary by design
OMD lives at the intersection of speech, dentistry, breathing, and osteopathy. We teach across those lines, not around them.
Critical thinkers, not technicians
Our mission is to develop clinicians who can reason through the case in front of them — not just follow a protocol.
By the numbers
3.6
ASHA CEUs, up to, per course
36
Contact hours of instruction
50
Years of combined experience
6
U.S. course cities
Who teaches
The clinicians at the front of the room
You learn from practicing clinicians who treat the cases they teach — across speech, dentistry, breathing, and osteopathy.
Mary Billings
MS, CCC-SLP
Founder & Lead Instructor
A speech-language pathologist who has shaped orofacial myology education since 2007. Mary chaired the IAOM's first Mentoring Committee, launched Make The Connection in 2012, and has trained thousands of clinicians across the globe with her interdisciplinary, function-first approach.
Patricia Fisher
MA, CCC-SLP
Co-Instructor
Co-instructor and private-practice owner in Ohio, Pat brings decades of clinical depth in proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation and hands-on therapy techniques to every course.
Dr. Charles Beck
DO
Guest Faculty
Osteopathic physician joining the teaching staff to deepen the airway, breathing, and whole-body connections that set the FunctionFocus curriculum apart.
Register
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- Ask about a payment plan — many attendees split tuition into installments.
- Flexible cancellation — full refund minus $500 fee up to 30 days out.
- Questions? hello@function-focus.com — answered within a day.
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