The Non-Speech Oral Movement Assessment for Children.

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Pediatric Assessment
• Motor Control

Background:

• Speech and language therapists (SLTs) routinely assess oral movements.
• No existing Dutch instruments evaluate non-speech oral movements in young children.
• The Non-Speech Oral Movement Assessment for Children (NOMAC) was developed to address this gap.

Purpose of the Study:

• Evaluate the psychometric properties of the NOMAC.
• Assess inter-rater reliability and construct validity.
• Collect normative reference values for non-speech oral movements in children.

Main Methods:

• Collected data from 318 typically developing Dutch children aged 2-8 years.
• Assessed inter-rater reliability using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC).
• Investigated construct validity by analyzing age and gender effects on item scores.

Main Results:

• Moderate to excellent inter-rater reliability (ICC) for most NOMAC items.
• Significant effect of age group on almost all items, confirming construct validity.
• Normative data presented as the percentage of children with normal oral motor execution.

Conclusions:

• The NOMAC is a valid and reliable tool for assessing non-speech oral movements in children aged 2-8.
• Provides normative data for comparison within clinical feeding and speech assessments.
• Supports comprehensive oral motor ability profiling for SLT clinical decision-making.