Timing of palatal surgery and speech outcome. Cleft Palate Craniofac J 2008 May;45(3):297-308
Date
05/03/2008Pubmed ID
18452355DOI
10.1597/06-244Scopus ID
2-s2.0-44649158399 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 111 CitationsAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of age and lexical status at the time of primary palatal surgery on speech outcome of preschoolers with cleft palate.
PARTICIPANTS: Forty children (33 to 42 months) with nonsyndromic cleft palate participated in the study. Twenty children (Group 1) were less lexically advanced and younger (mean age = 11 months) and 20 children (Group 2) were more lexically advanced and older (mean age = 15 months) when palatal surgery was performed.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Samples of the children's spontaneous speech were compared on 11 speech production measures (e.g., size of consonant inventory, total consonants correct, % correct for manner of articulation categories, compensatory articulation usage, etc.). Next, listeners rated a 30-second sample of each child's connected speech for articulation proficiency and hypernasality, separately, using direct magnitude estimation (DME).
RESULTS: Group differences were noted for 4 of the 11 speech production measures. Children in Group 1 exhibited larger consonant inventories (and true consonant inventories) and more accurate production of nasals and liquids compared to children in Group 2. On the DME task, significant group differences were found for ratings of articulation proficiency and hypernasality. Children in Group 1 exhibited better articulation and less hypernasality than children in Group 2.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggested that children who were less lexically advanced and younger at the time of palatal surgery exhibited better articulation and resonance outcomes at 3 years of age.
Author List
Chapman KL, Hardin-Jones MA, Goldstein JA, Halter KA, Havlik RJ, Schulte JAuthor
Robert Havlik MD Chair, Professor in the Plastic Surgery department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Age FactorsArticulation Disorders
Child, Preschool
Cleft Palate
Female
Humans
Infant
Language Development
Male
Speech
Speech Production Measurement
Voice Disorders
