What is it about?
We propose a framework for including gross motor, fine motor, and speech motor skills in developmental language research, especially in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Why is it important?
A unified framework including speech, motor, and language domains could enhance our ability to characterize diverse clinical populations, predict communication outcomes, and provide earlier intervention for those who need it.
Perspectives
As a researcher, it’s easy to get lost in the data. This article allowed me to step back, organize my own research priorities, and focus on the bigger picture: how motor and language skills actually interact in early development. We are moving away from seeing these as separate 'silos' and toward an integrated approach that will likely change how we identify and support children with developmental challenges.
Marc Maffei
University of Rhode Island
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Many Moving Parts: A Motor-Based Perspective on Developmental Speech and Language Research in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, February 2026, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),
DOI: 10.1044/2025_jslhr-25-00841.
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