Graduate Program

Communication Disorders and Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Semester of Degree Completion

2013

Thesis Director

Rebecca M. Throneburg

Thesis Committee Member

Beth L. Bergstrom

Thesis Committee Member

Jean M. Smitley

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate if there was a difference in nonspeech single oral structure and function overall and within subsystems (tongue-jaw, tongue, lips, and jaw) and nonspeech oscillation tasks between children with typical articulation, children with /r/ errors who are stimulable for correct /r/, and children with /r/ errors who are not stimulable for correct /r/, as measured by an oral-motor assessment and subsection scores. A secondary research question explored if there was a difference between the groups in tasks which may be related to type of oral-motor deficit including: sensory/proprioceptive (as measured by an informal one-point discrimination task and oral sensory tasks), oral-motor planning and coordination (as measured by tri-syllable rate and accuracy, coordination of sequential/oscillating nonspeech tasks from the MOST and VMPAC, consistency of Robbins & Klee word repetitions), and neuromuscular (as measured by tone, MPD, monosyllabic syllable repetition rate/steadiness).

Participants included 3 5 children who were placed into 3 groups based on the independent variable of /r/ production. The 3 groups consisted of typical (T) children who displayed accurate production of /r/, children with /r/ production errors who were stimulable for accurate /r/ (RS), and children with /r/ production errors who were not stimulable for accurate /r/ (NRS). Assessments of dependent variables consisted of 1) an informal oral-motor structure and function test developed by the current investigator, which evaluated tongue, jaw, lips, and oscillation oral-motor abilities, 2) an informal oral sensory shape and one-point discrimination measure developed by the current investigator, which evaluated the participant's ability to demonstrate oral awareness, and 3) an informal maximum performance test developed by the current investigator, which evaluated oral-motor skills through maximum duration tasks, accuracy/consistency of rate in syllable and real word repetition tasks.

Results indicated the presence of differences in children's oral-motor skills as measured by certain tasks. Significant differences were found between the three groups (i.e., Typical, Stimulable (RS), and Nonstimulable RNS) on tongue and jaw function tasks. An overall downward trend in data from the typical participants to the nonstimulable participants was revealed on the lip function tasks and nonspeech oscillation accuracy task. Significant differences were found on the lip one-point discrimination task. An overall downward trend in data was found within the oral-sensory shape and one-point discrimination for the tongue and cheek tasks. The oral-motor planning and coordination tasks revealed significant differences between the groups on two of the nonspeech oscillation consistency tasks. Trisyllable repetition rates neared significant differences between the groups and a downward trend was revealed in the real-word repetition tasks. Significant differences were found between the groups in the neuromusculature tasks. Typical participants were significantly more able to produce maximum phonation duration, monosyllabic syllable repetition rates, and perform oral-motor tone tasks.

Overall results revealed clinically relevant data. Some typical children struggled with a few of the oral-motor and maximum performance tasks; however, children with typical articulation skills performed oral-motor, oral sensory, and maximum performance tasks better. Results revealed that children who were stimulable for /r/ made fewer errors on oral-motor and oral sensory tasks. Maximum performance tasks revealed that typical participants produced more monosyllable and trisyllable repetitions accurately and consistently. Results from the current study were concurrent with Vogt (2012), a previous study which investigated oral-motor and maximum performance skills of participants with /r/ articulation deficits.

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