Assessment
Oral Mechanism Examination:
Assessment of the Speech Mechanism is a two-fold process
1. Determine the Structural Integrity of the speech mechanism:– administer an oral peripheral exam– determine size, shape, and adequacy of structures for non-speech and speech-related purposes
2. Determine the Functional Integrity of the Speech Mechanism:– administer the neuromotor speech exam– determine adequacy of system to produce non-speech and speech-related movements– articulatory and phonatory systems.
Assessment of the Speech Mechanism is a two-fold process
1. Determine the Structural Integrity of the speech mechanism:– administer an oral peripheral exam– determine size, shape, and adequacy of structures for non-speech and speech-related purposes
2. Determine the Functional Integrity of the Speech Mechanism:– administer the neuromotor speech exam– determine adequacy of system to produce non-speech and speech-related movements– articulatory and phonatory systems.
Structures that will be observed during this examination include:
Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson, M.S., C.C. S.L.P. with Talk Tools describes some associated characteristics of oral-structures of individuals with down syndrome which include:
- Lips
- Tongue
- Teeth/Occlusion
- Hard Palate
- Soft Palate
- Upper Jaw (maxilla)
- Lower Jaw (mandible)
- Oropharynx
- Nasopharynx
- Tonsils/Adenoids
- Larynx
Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson, M.S., C.C. S.L.P. with Talk Tools describes some associated characteristics of oral-structures of individuals with down syndrome which include:
- high narrow palatal vault
- tongue protrusion
- mild-moderate conductive hearing loss
- chronic upper respiratory infections
- mouth breathing
- habitual open mouth posture
- weak oral facial muscles
Perceptual Evaluation:
It is important for SLPs to pay close attention to the noted areas and create an individualized intervention plan accordingly.
- This is used to measure the auditory perception of one's voice by looking at pitch, loudness, voice quality, resonance, articulation, respiration, prosody, intelligibility, and other aspects of the voice.
- There are many different types of instrumental assessments which could be given, however, the most common type is the acoustic analysis set. This test gives you acoustic measurements during a sustained vowel, intoned vowel, reading task, and conversational task. It measures fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, semi-tones, intensity ranges, voice breaks, and noise to harmonic ratio.
It is important for SLPs to pay close attention to the noted areas and create an individualized intervention plan accordingly.