Oral Movements and Language Development

[Source] Apraxia-KIDS

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People have been asking for a long time whether children who are good, or poor, at motor (movement) skills are likely to be good, or poor, at language skills. Here's what we know so far. When you look at walking, running, jumping and other gross motor skills you don't find any link between these and language - children who are slow or fast to walk are not necessarily slow or fast to talk. However there is a lot of evidence that hand gestures (including things like waving bye-bye and pointing - communicative gestures - and things like showing what you do with scissors or a comb, without having them in your hand - symbolic gestures) are linked to language abilities. Children who use hand gestures early are likely to be early talkers. Children who are late to use gestures are likely to be late talkers, and are more likely than children whose gestures are on schedule to remain delayed in their language use. There is also an association in older children between having disordered or delayed language development and having difficulties with control of limb movements - it is not just a link in early life.


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