Difficulty in using the tongue, lips and jaw can be an indication of impaired oromotor functioning (sometimes known as ‘oral-motor’). Oromotor skills can often be overlooked during an articulation assessment, yet it really gives an essential look at the functioning of a child’s ability to produce speech sounds. It wasn’t until I really understood how sounds were made and the muscles and coordination involved that I really got a lot out of an oromotor assessment… So I encourage you to brush up on your knowledge as I promise you it will change the way you see articulation! Free Download from my TPT store
I have made a simple 1 page oromotor checklist meant to be incorporated as part of the assessment process. It takes less than 5 minutes to complete and will be an invaluable tool to understanding if oromotor functioning is affecting the child’s speech production.
Rebecca… Maybe other folks have already mentioned this to you, but just in case, you have misspelled oralmotor all the way through this wonderful screener. You left out the “l”. Thanks again for all your information.
Hi Elaine,
Maybe this is a country specific term?
“Oromotor” is the term that I was taught in Australia, and was present in my textbooks. If you Google “oromotor”, it says that it is ‘difficulty in using the tongue, lips and jaw indicate impaired oromotor function. So if that definition is different to your understanding of ‘oralmotor’, then it might be something slightly different? I will add a note on my post just in case others are confused – thanks for the intercultural communication!
Thank you for the clarification, Rebecca.