Why is speech affected when there are weaknesses with oral facial muscles?
Speech production is a fine motor skill that uses muscles from the respiratory system, throat, jaw, lips, tongue and facial muscles. Where there is weakness, the muscles may not have enough strength and coordination to accurately make the correct sound. When a child has weak oral and facial muscles there may be errors with several speech sounds. They may also omit the beginning and final sounds of words, omit syllables in a word or compensate for their errors by inventing their own sound system. If your child has speech that is difficult to understand at 2 ½ – 3 years of age, you may want to consider a consultation with a speech-language pathologist for recommendations.
