Oral apraxia (nonverbal oral apraxia) is a motor planning disorder affecting voluntary movements of the mouth and face that are not related to speaking. An individual with oral apraxia might have difficulty intentionally performing actions like puckering the lips, smacking the tongue, blowing air, or smiling on command, even though the requisite muscles are not paralyzed or weak. This condition often co-occurs with neurologic injuries or developmental disorders and can accompany apraxia of speech, although oral apraxia by itself does not impair the production of speech sounds (and reflexive or automatic movements, like spontaneous smiling or chewing, may be intact). SLPs assess for oral apraxia during oral-motor examinations to differentiate it from speech apraxia and dysarthria; while oral apraxia in isolation might not require direct treatment.
Botha, Hugo, et al. “Nonverbal Oral Apraxia in Primary Progressive Aphasia and Apraxia of Speech.” Neurology 82, no. 19 (2014): 1729–1735. Link
McCauley, Rebecca J., and Edythe A. Strand. “A Review of Standardized Tests of Nonverbal Oral and Speech Motor Performance in Children.” American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 17, no. 1 (2008): 81–91. Link
