Oral Motor
Oral motor skills refer to the muscle development and skill in all of the oral components needed for feeding and speech production. These include the muscles of the lips, chin, tongue, palate, and jaw. Sound articulation errors may be a result of an oral motor deficit. In which case it is necessary to strengthen and develop the muscles in order to create a change in the speech production skills.
Important oral motor skills include relatively normal sensitivity in the mouth. If a child has hypersensitivity (too sensitive) then they may avoid placing food or articulators in a specific place in the mouth, resulting in an articulation problem. If a child has hyposensitivity (not sensitive enough) they may not effectively move the articulators to the proper position or may have other issues, such as drooling. Jaw strength and stabilization are important elements in speech production. The child needs to be able to move other components of the mouth while the jaw remains stable. The child needs to demonstrate adequate tongue retraction and protrusion skills. Often children who have a frontal lisp of the /s/ sound have some tongue retraction weaknesses. The lips need to be able to close adequately and round. Weaknesses in any of these areas will impact the production of speech sounds.
Information taken from "Oral-Motor Exercises For Speech Clarity," Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson, 2001, Innovative Therapists International
Oral motor skills refer to the muscle development and skill in all of the oral components needed for feeding and speech production. These include the muscles of the lips, chin, tongue, palate, and jaw. Sound articulation errors may be a result of an oral motor deficit. In which case it is necessary to strengthen and develop the muscles in order to create a change in the speech production skills.
Important oral motor skills include relatively normal sensitivity in the mouth. If a child has hypersensitivity (too sensitive) then they may avoid placing food or articulators in a specific place in the mouth, resulting in an articulation problem. If a child has hyposensitivity (not sensitive enough) they may not effectively move the articulators to the proper position or may have other issues, such as drooling. Jaw strength and stabilization are important elements in speech production. The child needs to be able to move other components of the mouth while the jaw remains stable. The child needs to demonstrate adequate tongue retraction and protrusion skills. Often children who have a frontal lisp of the /s/ sound have some tongue retraction weaknesses. The lips need to be able to close adequately and round. Weaknesses in any of these areas will impact the production of speech sounds.
Information taken from "Oral-Motor Exercises For Speech Clarity," Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson, 2001, Innovative Therapists International