The Relationship between Intraoral Palatal Measurements and Articulation Improvement with Training

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 /r/‐phonemes by a group of children after articulation training, and (b) to ascertain whether a group of /r/‐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 /r/ 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 /r/ 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 /r/‐phoneme disorder and has a high palatal arch, the child may have much more difficulty in correcting an /r/ mis articulation than would a child with a lower palatal height.