Speech and oro-motor function in children with developmental coordination disorder: a pilot study.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Speech articulation is complex and matures slowly, suggesting potential links to general motor control deficits.
• Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) frequently co-occurs with speech production disorders.
• Previous research indicates a high co-occurrence between DCD and speech disorders, but speech motor control in DCD remains under-investigated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically investigate speech motor control in children with DCD.
• To compare speech motor control between children with DCD and typically developing (TD) children.
• To explore the impact of task complexity on speech motor control in children with DCD.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study involving 5 children with DCD and 5 TD children.
• Recording of upper and lower lip movements during non-verbal actions, single words, syllable sequences, and sentence repetition.
• Analysis of movement patterns under varying task complexities, including baseline and increased complexity conditions.

Main Results:

• Children with DCD exhibited typical, yet slower and shorter, lip movements during baseline speech tasks.
• When task complexity increased, children with DCD demonstrated atypical movement patterns.
• A significant difference in motor control for complex speech gestures was observed between the DCD and TD groups.

Conclusions:

• Children with DCD display inferior motor control for complex speech tasks.
• The findings suggest that the motor deficit in DCD is a generalized issue affecting the speech motor system.
• This study highlights the need for further research into the relationship between DCD and speech motor control.