Oral Motor Deficits in Speech-Impaired Children with Autism
Absence of communicative speech in autism has been presumed to reflect a fundamental deficit in the use of language, but at least in a subpopulation may instead stem from motor and oral motor issues. Clinical reports of disparity between receptive versus expressive speech / language abilities reinfo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnint.2013.00047/full |
| _version_ | 1819261564670181376 |
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| author | Matthew K Belmonte Matthew K Belmonte Matthew K Belmonte Tanushree eSaxena-Chandhok Ruth eCherian Reema eMuneer Lisa eGeorge Prathibha eKaranth |
| author_facet | Matthew K Belmonte Matthew K Belmonte Matthew K Belmonte Tanushree eSaxena-Chandhok Ruth eCherian Reema eMuneer Lisa eGeorge Prathibha eKaranth |
| author_sort | Matthew K Belmonte |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Absence of communicative speech in autism has been presumed to reflect a fundamental deficit in the use of language, but at least in a subpopulation may instead stem from motor and oral motor issues. Clinical reports of disparity between receptive versus expressive speech / language abilities reinforce this hypothesis. Our early-intervention clinic develops skills prerequisite to learning and communication, including sitting, attending, and pointing or reference, in children below 6 years of age. In a cohort of 31 children, gross and fine motor skills and activities of daily living as well as receptive and expressive speech were assessed at intake and after 6 and 10 months of intervention. Oral motor skills were evaluated separately within the first 5 months of the child's enrolment in the intervention programme and again at 10 months of intervention. Assessment used a clinician-rated structured report, normed against samples of 360 (for motor and speech skills) and 90 (for oral motor skills) typically developing children matched for age, cultural environment and socio-economic status. In the full sample, oral and other motor skills correlated with receptive and expressive language both in terms of pre-intervention measures and in terms of learning rates during the intervention. A motor-impaired group comprising a third of the sample was discriminated by an uneven profile of skills with oral motor and expressive language deficits out of proportion to the receptive language deficit. This group learnt language more slowly, and ended intervention lagging in oral motor skills. In individuals incapable of the degree of motor sequencing and timing necessary for speech movements, receptive language may outstrip expressive speech. Our data suggest that autistic motor difficulties could range from more basic skills such as pointing to more refined skills such as articulation, and need to be assessed and addressed across this entire range in each individual. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T19:43:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-24f24efdbef44cefb29d524144dcca0c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5145 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T19:43:49Z |
| publishDate | 2013-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-24f24efdbef44cefb29d524144dcca0c2022-12-21T17:33:34ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience1662-51452013-07-01710.3389/fnint.2013.0004746434Oral Motor Deficits in Speech-Impaired Children with AutismMatthew K Belmonte0Matthew K Belmonte1Matthew K Belmonte2Tanushree eSaxena-Chandhok3Ruth eCherian4Reema eMuneer5Lisa eGeorge6Prathibha eKaranth7The Groden CentreNottingham Trent UniversityBrown UniversityThe Com DEALL TrustThe Com DEALL TrustThe Com DEALL TrustThe Com DEALL TrustThe Com DEALL TrustAbsence of communicative speech in autism has been presumed to reflect a fundamental deficit in the use of language, but at least in a subpopulation may instead stem from motor and oral motor issues. Clinical reports of disparity between receptive versus expressive speech / language abilities reinforce this hypothesis. Our early-intervention clinic develops skills prerequisite to learning and communication, including sitting, attending, and pointing or reference, in children below 6 years of age. In a cohort of 31 children, gross and fine motor skills and activities of daily living as well as receptive and expressive speech were assessed at intake and after 6 and 10 months of intervention. Oral motor skills were evaluated separately within the first 5 months of the child's enrolment in the intervention programme and again at 10 months of intervention. Assessment used a clinician-rated structured report, normed against samples of 360 (for motor and speech skills) and 90 (for oral motor skills) typically developing children matched for age, cultural environment and socio-economic status. In the full sample, oral and other motor skills correlated with receptive and expressive language both in terms of pre-intervention measures and in terms of learning rates during the intervention. A motor-impaired group comprising a third of the sample was discriminated by an uneven profile of skills with oral motor and expressive language deficits out of proportion to the receptive language deficit. This group learnt language more slowly, and ended intervention lagging in oral motor skills. In individuals incapable of the degree of motor sequencing and timing necessary for speech movements, receptive language may outstrip expressive speech. Our data suggest that autistic motor difficulties could range from more basic skills such as pointing to more refined skills such as articulation, and need to be assessed and addressed across this entire range in each individual.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnint.2013.00047/fullLanguageSpeechautismdyspraxianonverbaloral motor |
| spellingShingle | Matthew K Belmonte Matthew K Belmonte Matthew K Belmonte Tanushree eSaxena-Chandhok Ruth eCherian Reema eMuneer Lisa eGeorge Prathibha eKaranth Oral Motor Deficits in Speech-Impaired Children with Autism Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience Language Speech autism dyspraxia nonverbal oral motor |
| title | Oral Motor Deficits in Speech-Impaired Children with Autism |
| title_full | Oral Motor Deficits in Speech-Impaired Children with Autism |
| title_fullStr | Oral Motor Deficits in Speech-Impaired Children with Autism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Oral Motor Deficits in Speech-Impaired Children with Autism |
| title_short | Oral Motor Deficits in Speech-Impaired Children with Autism |
| title_sort | oral motor deficits in speech impaired children with autism |
| topic | Language Speech autism dyspraxia nonverbal oral motor |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnint.2013.00047/full |
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