This advice-column-style blog for SLPs was authored by Pam Marshalla from 2006 to 2015, the archives of which can be explored here. Use the extensive keywords list found in the right-hand column (on mobile: at the bottom of the page) to browse specific topics, or use the search feature to locate specific words or phrases throughout the entire blog.
The OM Controversy (again…)
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am a special education advocate and I would like to discuss oral motor exercises with someone. An SLP at a district I’m working with stated, “There is no evidence that oral motor exercises are helpful for speech.” Is that true?
This area is a mess. Professionals who bash oral-motor generally can be accused of the following:
- They don’t know what the term “evidence-based practice” really means.
- They are confusing the concepts of “evidence-based practice” with the concept of the “empirically-validated treatment method.”
- They don’t really know what the term “oral-motor treatment” means.
I post regular Q&A’s about this issue here on this blog in the sections called Oral-Motor Controversy and Evidence-Based Practice. Also see the PDF entitled, “Pam on EBP.” There is a button for it on the Home Page.
Also please visit the Oral Motor Institute’s website at www.oralmotorinstitute.org. We are posting articles about this controversy there. People on the OMI’s Board of Directors are well-respected in oral-motor, articulation, feeding, and so forth.