Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate and describe the co-occurrence of chosen retained reflexes: symmetrical tonic neck reflex (STNR), asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (ATNR), tonic labyrinthine reflex (TLR) – and speech sound disorders among children, as well as check the examination sheets whether effective for further research. Methods: Spoken language production (articulation) exam-ination included: interview, assessment of: phonemic awar-eness, orofacial anatomy, orofacial physiology, spontan-eous speech sample, Polish phonemes realisation and chosen primitive reflexes – STNR, ATNR, TLR. Particip-ants of the pilot study were recruited through kindergartens in Zabrze (Poland). Among the 30 preschoolers aged 5-6 years, 15 did not present retention of primitive reflexes, 15 of them did. Results: Most children manifesting articulation disorders also presented at least one retained primitive reflexes. However, 2 out of 15 children without articulation disorders presented retained reflexes as well. The results show significant co-existence, nevertheless it should not be perceived as a cause and effect relationship and needs further research. Conclusion: Children with speech dis-orders manifest preserved ATNR, STNR and TLR. This topic requires greater research samples to achieve higher reliability and validity of the results. It may become effective to include retained reflexes therapy strategies in speech-language therapy, which also should be verified by research.

Keywords: primitive reflexes, retained reflexes, preserved reflexes, retained primitive reflexes, speech sound disorder, speech development, symmetrical tonic neck reflex, asymmetrical tonic neck reflex, tonic labyrinthine reflex