THE ORAL MOTOR DEBATE/CONTROVERSY

  •  Confusion/Misunderstanding?
  •  Frustration/Anger?
  •  Unprofessional/Unethical Behavior?
  •  Bullying/Elitism?
  •  Divisiveness?

THE ORAL MOTOR INSTITUTE (OMI)

Many words have been used to describe the oral motor debate/controversy. The Oral Motor Institute (OMI) is:
  •  a collegial study group
  •  seeking to understand the oral motor controversy/debate and facilitate a resolution
  •  for greater cohesion in the field of speech-language pathology
  •  to better serve clients/patients with oral motor disorders.
Diane Bahr and Pam Marshalla co-chair the OMI. Pam is the founder.

OMI Mission Statement: "The OMI is established to publish monographs that demonstrate the evidence base of oral sensory and motor techniques for articulation, motor speech, and feeding treatment. Its mission is to contribute to the field of speech-language-hearing science by expanding our knowledge about the sensory and motor components of articulation, motor speech, and feeding development, disorders, assessment, and treatment. The OMI was founded to develop a series of monographs that could provide a more appropriate set of definitions, historical overview, and research-oriented review of the entire area of oral motor treatment." (Oral Motor Institute Website, www.oralmotorinstitute.org, 2009).

DEFINITION: A FIRST STEP

A first step in resolving the oral motor conflict may involve definition. "ORAL=MOUTH; MOTOR=MOVEMENT" (Pam Marshalla, MA, CCC-SLP, 2007). Therefore, "oral motor treatment" is a general term describing treatment of "mouth movement."

According to David W. Hammer, MA, CCC-SLP (2007) the term "oral motor" is defined as "having to do with movements and placements of the oral structures such as the tongue, lips, palate, and teeth." In his work with apraxia of speech in children, Hammer defines his oral motor strategies as "speech therapy techniques which draw the child's attention and effort to the oral musculature/articulators while simultaneously engaging the child in speech production practice."

According to Diane Bahr, MS, CCC-SLP (2008), oral motor function is fine motor function of the oral mechanism (i.e., jaw, tongue, lips, cheeks) for the purposes of eating, drinking, speaking, and other mouth activities. Oral motor treatment addresses sensory processing as well as dissociation, grading, direction, timing, and coordination of mouth movement for eating, drinking, speaking, and other mouth activities. The speech-language pathologist focuses treatment on eating, drinking, and speaking.

Some authors and presenters have narrowly defined the term "Oral Motor Treatment" as Non-Speech Oral Exercise and Activities (e.g., "Reviewing the Evidence: Gregory Lof's Critical Take on Oral-Motor Therapy," Banotai, 2007; "What is the Evidence for Oral Motor Therapy?" Bowen, 2005).

However, Oral Motor Treatment may include the following areas based on definitions by Bahr (2008), Marshalla (2007), and others:
  •  Feeding/Oral Phase Swallowing
  •  Motor Speech Therapy for Apraxia and Dysarthria
  •  Oral Awareness/Discrimination/Facilitation
  •  Oral Activities/Exercises
  •  Orofacial Myofunctional Treatment
Feeding/Oral phase swallowing and motor speech therapy are where speech-language pathologists spend most of their time in treatment.

Therefore, ORAL MOTOR TREATMENT DOES NOT EQUAL NON-SPEECH OR NON-FEEDING EXERCISE OR ACTIVITIES. Look for current and upcoming information regarding the oral motor debate/controversy on the Oral Motor Institute website.

RESOURCE

Bahr, D. (2008, November). The oral motor debate: Where do we go from here? Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Chicago, IL.
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