An Investigation of the Efficacy of Oral Myofunctional Therapy as a Precursor to Articulation Therapy for Pre-First Grade Children

Abstract

This study investigated the assumption that oral myofunctional services might facilitate remediation of articulation disorders. Subjects were ten 6-year-old elementary school children who exhibited both tongue-thrust behavior and articulation errors. All subjects had equal service time for a 14-week period, half receiving articulation services only and the other half receiving oral myofunctional services prior to and in conjunction with articulation services. Results showed that children in both programs made essentially equal progress in correcting placement of tongue-tip-sounds, remediating /s/ and /z/ misarticulation, and remediating general articulation errors. Only children who received oral myofunctional services remediated tongue-thrust behaviors.