How are significant oral-motor and motor speech challenges addressed in the SCERTS Model?
It is commonly observed that children with autism spectrum disorders and related disabilities often experience co-occurring problems in oral-motor and motor speech abilities. Such problems may range from mild to severe. Mild oral-motor and motor speech problems may affect speech intelligibility to some degree even though speech remains the primary and most effective mode of communication. At moderate levels of severity, speech intelligibility may be compromised to a greater degree, and at severe levels, production of intelligible speech and even volitional vocalization as a means of communication may not be possible. In the SCERTS Model, oral-motor and motor speech issues are not isolated as separate goals but are addressed within the larger goals in the Social Communication and Transactional Support domains. With the overriding goals of supporting a child’s ability to be a more confident and competent communicator, motor speech limitations are viewed within the context of a child’s ex
