Oral Motor Weakness

If your child is having trouble controlling her mouth muscles to talk and eat, and doesn’t seem able to master chewing, blowing, or making specific sounds, she may have an oral motor disorder. While these are physical issues, they can have a neurological component.

Oral motor disorders can fall into three main areas:

-- Oral or verbal apraxia – the inability to get the mouth to do what the brain tells it to do due to motor planning difficulties

-- Dysarthria – the inability to eat safely or speak clearly due to muscle weakness or sluggishness

-- Delay in the development of the musculature for eating

Oral motor weakness is a serious problem. Your child needs to be able to eat safely as well as develop coherent speech. Come in today or make an appointment with us so we can assess your child's oral motor skills.