Is non speech oromotor treatment approach effective in

management of dysarthria?
Non speech motor exercises are often used to strengthen and stretch the muscles
of speech. Typical exercises include protruding and retracting the tip of the
tongue, encircling the lips with the tip of the tongue, and alternating whistling
and smiling. Non speech motor exercises fall under 3 broad categories – 1)
isotonic and isometric strengthening exercises 2) relaxation exercises 3)
neurophysiological approaches.
There are so many studies in the literature regarding effective oromotor
treatment approach and also there are few which oppose the effective oral motor
approach in persons with dysarthria. Advocates have said that if the
neuromuscular impairment in these muscles groups are reduced the articulatory
movements of the person with dysarthria will also normalize improving speech
function and also the speech intelligibility. In contrast to this Duffy has said that
person who require focus on articulation typically receive articulation therapy
approaches and these muscle strengthening non speech oromotor exercises are
less universally accepted. Non speech oromotor exercises should be used only
after getting to know that weakness of articulators is purely due to dysarthria.
Theodoros and Thompson-Ward (1998) put forth a statement that non speech
oromotor exercises are difficult to quantify.
Yorkston and colleagues stated that stated that there is little evidence to support
any generalization of non-speech oromotor interventions to improved speech
functions in persons with dysarthria.
Yorkston and colleagues had an opinion that although non speech activities may
be used during first few minutes during the treatment spending much time on
non-speech oromotor exercises is not the best use of treatment time.
Love (2002) said that there is a great concern in effect of muscle weakness and
types of oromotor impairment on the speech performances. Careful analysis on
the muscle strength in patients with dysarthria is the only reliable guide for
recommending oral exercises to increase the muscle strength and movement as
said by love and colleagues.
Tonkovich and colleagues (2001) quoted that non-speech oromotor exercises do
not generalize to speech intelligibility. Patient with dysarthria has a wrong
misconception that oromotor exercise for increasing muscle strength ad
movement will help in restoring their speech performances.
Hodge (2002); Weismer and liss , 1991 opined that treatment of speech disorders
should be task specific, rather than using non-speech oromotor exercises to treat
speech deficits. But, Clarke (2003) emphasized on the potential application of
non-speech oromotor exercises in treatment of specific speech disorders. He says
that it’s essential for clinicians to understand the theoretical specifications of the
on-speech oromotor exercises and the type of disorders they could be applied to.
So in whole there are authors and literature evidences were in people have said
that oromotor exercises are beneficial in management of dysarthria as well as
there are people who say that oromotor exercises are not that beneficial in
management of dysarthria. There are alternative treatment approaches for
dysarthria that have evidence to support their effectiveness, while evidence to
support the effectiveness of non-speech oral-motor treatment approaches for
dysarthria is lacking. Some of the authors said that oromotor exercises seemed to
be effective because they helped to strengthen the articulators, thereby
improving speech intelligibility. And some even believed that speech develops
from non-speech tasks and hence using non-speech oromotor exercises to treat
speech disorders seemed to be logical. Some of the authors also said that using
oromotor exercises are not essential as it had lack of research supporting the
oromotor exercises and they said that attending continuing education events did
not encourage the use of non-speech oromotor exercises.\
According to me the non-speech oromotor exercises are beneficial in treatment
of dysarthria as there should be need of certain amount of muscle strength for
the production of speech and the movement also should be precise foe the corrct
production of sounds. These exercises will help the person to produce an
ineligible speech and would be a good management option in persons with
dysarthria according to me
PADMA PAI(161104006)