Oral Motor Indexes in Iranian 4- to 9-month-old infants: A short report

Examination of oral motor indices in infants helps treatment team members identify infants who are delayed in these indices earlier and use the order of occurrence of these indices in normal infants as a criterion for treating infants with motor delay. Literature shows that oral movement indices are different in different races, cultures, and languages. The aim of this study was to determine the time of onset of movement indicators of opening the mouth when the spoon sticks to the lips, gently moving the tongue back and forth when food enters the mouth, and lateral movement of the tongue and jaw in Iranian normal infants in Shiraz.

In the current study, in 2018, by using cluster sampling, 250 infants 4-9 months were selected from 7 public health centers in Shiraz.  After conferring the participants ‘normal development, by using The Ages & Stages Questionnaires(ASQ), a speech therapist assessed and analyzed the lips, tongue, and jaws movements during feeding of semi-solid and solid food by using researcher developing Questionnaire in public health centers in 6 age groups include 4,5,6,7,8, and 9 months.  

The oral movements checklist content validity ratio (CVR) were 0/99. The oral movements, opening the mouth when the spoon sticks to the lips, moving the tongue gently forward and backward when food enters the mouth were observed in all participants 4-9 months. In evaluating lateral movement of the tongue, 13.6% of infants with 4 months showed only the tongue movement to the right, and 40.9% showed the tongue movement to the right and left. the tongue movement to the right and left in infants with 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 months were observed in 73.5%, 59%, 80.8%, 91.4% and 93.3% respectively.  Moving to the side of the tongue and lateral jaw movements are seen in Iranian infants at the age of 5 and 8 months, respectively.

According to the results, the age of onset of some of oral movements in Iranian infants is similar to other races and the age of onset of some of oral movements such as moving the tongue gently forward and backward when food enters the mouth is sooner than other races.  It is necessary to conduct more extensive studies in different populations to provide exact indexes about oral movements to diagnose oral motor delays