Investigating the Relationship Between Early Speech Milestones and Oral–Motor Development in Infants

These findings suggest a possible link between early oromotor development and emerging speech abilities in infancy. Infants with stronger oromotor skills at 6 months tended to produce a larger variety of protophones and were more likely to be early babblers, per parent report. These results reveal the potential value of early oromotor behaviours as indicators of developing speech skills.