Limb and oral praxic abilities of children with verbal sequencing deficits

This study was concerned with children with impaired articulation, with a specific deficit in verbal sequences of consonant-vowel syllables; i.e. verbal sequenced motion rate (SMR). Speech-disordered children with and without this SMR disorder were compared with a group of control children on their performance of single limb and oral gestures and sequences of limb and oral gestures. Performances of an action requiring four different responses and of one requiring the same repeated response were also examined. The children with verbal SMR disorder had greater difficulty in performing both single and sequences of limb and oral gestures compared with the other two groups, as they also had in the task requiring four different responses. There were no differences between the groups in the task requiring the same repeated response. These findings suggest that children with verbal SMR disorder may have a generalized motor disorder which affects performance of both single gestures and sequences of gestures.