Abstract: Objective To observe the efficacy of Complex Oral Motor Scoring (COMS) and diadochokinetic rate (DR) on evaluation of oral motor dysfunction and speech disorders in children with cerebral palsy. Methods 107 children with cerebral palsy were tested with Chinese-version Articulation Test, Simple Oral Motor Scoring (SOMS), COMS and DR. The correlation among SOMS, COMS and DR was analysesd. Results 85 children were abnormal in SOMS and 94 in COMS. Oral dyskinesia was found in all the children with spastic quadriplegia, dyskinetic, ataxia and mixed type of cerebral palsy, and less in the type of spastic diplegia and hemiplegia. DR was the least in spastic quadriplegia, dyskinetic, mixed type of cerebral palsy, more in the type of ataxia and spastic diplegia, and the most in hemiplegia. The coefficient of correlation among the SOMS, COMS, the longest pronunciation and DR were more than 0.8 (P<0.01). Conclusion The incidence and severity of oral dyskinesia and dysarthria are associated with the types of cerebral palsy. There is good correlation among SOMS, COMS, longest pronunciation and DR.

Key words: cerebral palsy, oral dyskinesia, dysarthria, diadochokinetic rate