Oral motor treatment: Effects of therapeutic feeding on articulatory skills

Area of Science:

• Pediatric therapy
• Speech-language pathology
• Developmental pediatrics

Background:

• Feeding problems affect over 20% of typically developing children and over 70% of those with developmental disabilities.
• Oral motor therapy for feeding disorders may indirectly benefit co-occurring articulation disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the indirect effects of oral motor therapy for feeding disorders on articulation skills in young children.

Main Methods:

• Seven young children with feeding problems received a 4-week oral motor treatment protocol.
• The protocol focused on tongue pressure and therapeutic spoon placement for feeding and swallowing.
• Standardized articulation tests and parent reports were used for pre- and post-treatment assessments.

Main Results:

• A significant improvement was observed in post-treatment articulation test scores.
• Parents reported a notable increase in their child's speech intelligibility after therapy.
• Oral motor interventions demonstrated a positive secondary effect on speech production.

Conclusions:

• Oral motor therapy targeting feeding issues can lead to improvements in speech articulation.
• This approach offers a potential dual benefit for children with both feeding and speech sound disorders.
• Further research should explore the long-term impact and broader applications of this therapeutic strategy.