Speech analyses of four children with repaired cleft palates

Four males with surgically repaired cleft palates, between 3 years 2 months and 3 years 11 months of age, served as subjects. Speech samples were collected and subjected to a number of analyses, including phonetic inventories and analysis of phonological processes. Frequency counts of error types, including gross or compensatory substitutions, were also tallied. The results revealed that the subjects were similar to one another with respect to their phonetic inventories. They differed considerably, however, in the frequency and types of phonological processes used. Those differences may be attributed to variations in language skills. The data strongly suggest that not all of the articulatory problems among the children can be explained solely on the basis of present or past structural deficits.