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According to SLP David Hammer, 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" (presentation at Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association, 2007). Oral awareness/discrimination/facilitation, oral sensory exploration/discriminative mouthing, feeding/eating/drinking, oral activities, myofunctional therapy, swallowing therapy, and motor speech treatment appear to be "pieces of a puzzle" that comprise the body of work in this area.
A few years ago, I wrote a peer-reviewed textbook, Oral Motor Assessment and Treatment: Ages and Stages (Allyn & Bacon, 2001), because there was no textbook on this topic. I taught the graduate course on oral motor treatment at Loyola College in Maryland from 1993–2001.
In an article, "Reviewing the Evidence: Gregory Lof’s Critical Take on Oral-Motor Therapy" (Advance for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists, Sept. 3), oral-motor was defined as non-speech oral exercise. Some peer-reviewed journal articles were listed but were not specific to the term "oral-motor." Many articles have been written in peer-reviewed journals using this term in contexts other than non-speech oral exercise. These conflicting and confusing definitions strongly speak to the need for clarification of the term in our field.
Therefore, my question is: Would an ad hoc committee to define "oral-motor" help? The recent Ad Hoc Committee on Childhood Apraxia of Speech (2007) made a significant contribution to our field. The similar wealth of information on "oral-motor" treatment beyond non-speech exercise could also make a difference to our practice.
Diane Bahr
Las Vegas, NV
dibahr@cox.net
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