Do all speech-disordered children have motor deficits?
- 1 January 1996
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics
- Vol. 10 (2) , 77-101
- https://doi.org/10.3109/02699209608985164
Abstract
The performance of four groups of speech-disordered children and a normal control group on tasks assessing volitional and non-volitional oral movements, fine motor skills and speech motor planning (novel word learning) were compared. Children whose phonological and/or articulation skills were slowly following the normal course of development did not appear to have specific difficulty on any of the experimental tasks. Children who consistently used non-developmental phonological rules did not differ from normal controls on tasks which assessed speed, dexterity and co-ordination of fine motor movements, indicating that their deficit is not one of motor control or implementation, motor planning or integration of perceptual and motor information. Further, the results of the new-world-learning task demonstrated that they are as good as the control group when learning to recognize and say new words. Children who made inconsistent speech errors performed as well as normal controls on tasks which assessed the function of the lips and tongue in a non-speech context, and the ability to sequence two non-speech oral movements, eliminating an oro-motor implementation deficit. However, they were significantly poorer than controls on tasks which required speed and dexterity of fine motor movements, indicating that children with inconsistent deviant phonology had more difficulty organizing complex sequences of movement when time was included as a performance factor. Children diagnosed as having developmental verbal dyspraxia had difficulty on the fine motor subtests, reflecting deficits at the levels of integrating sensory information into a plan of action, and at the level of co-ordinating speed and dexterity of intricate movements. The theoretical and clinical implications of these results are discussed.Keywords
This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- CONCURRENCE OF CONGENITAL OCULAR MOTOR APRAXIA AND OTHER MOTOR PROBLEMS: AN EXPANDED SYNDROMEDevelopmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 2008
- Otitis media and disordered phonologiesTopics in Language Disorders, 1994
- Variability in speech dyspraxiaClinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 1992
- Developmental verbal dyspraxia I: A review and critiqueInternational Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 1992
- Phonological disorders in children: Underlying cognitive deficitsBritish Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1989
- The perception of phoneme sequence: A comparison of dyspraxic and normal childrenInternational Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 1988
- Impact of recurrent otitis media on middle ear function, hearing, and languageThe Journal of Pediatrics, 1988
- Speech and language handicap: Towards knowing the size of the problemInternational Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 1986
- Phonological Characteristics of Developmental Verbal DyspraxiaSeminars in Speech and Language, 1984
- An Investigation of Reading and Spelling Performance in Speech Disordered ChildrenInternational Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 1982