Summary

In response to the need for a reliable and valid assessment tool, the Schedule for Oral Motor Assessment (SOMA) was designed. It was developed and validated on a large sample of normally developing infants as well as infants with clinically significant oral motor dysfunction. The SOMA is simple to administer and quick to score, and can be performed in the clinic, nursery, school or the child?s home. It entails the presentation of a range of tastes and textures to the infant in order to elicit a full range of each oral motor challenge categories, ranging from liquid through to chewable solids. Specific oral motor behaviours are rated for each oral motor challenge category. Responses are summed to obtain a score for each category, enabling the speech and language therapist to distinguish those infants with normal oral motor function from those with oral motor dysfunction.