Abstract
Abstract
The purposes of this study were: (a) to examine the relationships between intraoral measurements of palatal length, width, and height and the degree of improvement in articulating Irl-phonemes by a group of children after articulation training, and (b) to ascertain whether a group of Irl-phoneme defective children and a matched group of normal articulation children differed significantly on palatal measurements of length, width, and height. Intraoral palatal measurements of length, width, and height were made on all subjects using a specially modified orthodontic caliper.
Children with higher palatal measurements made significantly less improvement on Irl after articulation training than did the children with lower palates. There was no significant relationship between improvement in articulation after training and palatal width and length dimensions. The group of Irl defective children and the group of normal articulation children differed significantly on palatal height but not length and width. The results suggest that if a child develops an Irl-phoneme disorder and has a high palatal arch, the child may have much more difficulty in correcting an Irl misarticulation than would a child with a lower palatal height.