Correlation Between Articulation Disorders and Oral Motor Mechanism

Function of oral cavity is to produce speech sounds for verbal communication along with performance of its primary functions. Its defects can decrease intelligibility of speech while affecting production of phonemes. Description of this relationship is important for etiologic diagnosis and treatment planning among children without any disability or ignored craniofacial deformities. Studies highlighting this relationship are rare to none in Pakistan. Therefore, this study aims to detect the type and extent of relationship between these two factors. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on a sample of 140, which were 4-8 years old children with speech sound disorders, without any disability, and visiting various speech clinics in Pakistan. Test for Assessment of Articulation and Phonology in Urdu (TAAPU) was applied as it contains both oral motor screen and articulation tests. Results: The study examined the relationship between Oral Motor Mechanism (OMM) and Articulation Disorders. Oral motor screening of 140 children showed that (23%) had OMM defects among these 33% had substitution errors, 60% distortion errors, and 3.03% omission errors whereas no addition errors were found. The correlation of 0.763 positive relationships between two variables was noticed. High percentage of distortion errors among children having OMM defects shows strong connection between the two otherwise substitution is most prevalent error. Conclusion: Conclusively it can be stated that anatomical and physiological defects of oral cavity lead to articulation errors. Children with articulation deficit had distorted speech with multiple oral motor anomalies.