Speech outcomes after palatal closure in 3-7-year-old children

One of the main goals of the team approach in management of oro-facial clefts is to help the children with cleft palate have adequate speech development.

The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of articulation and resonance disorders following palate closure in children who were visited for routine examination by the Isfahan Cleft Care Team between 2011 and 2015, and to study the impact of cleft type and age at the time of palatoplasty on speech outcomes.

Clinical records of 180 preschool children with repaired cleft palate were reviewed. The percentage of children demonstrating hypernasality, nasal emission, nasal turbulence, and compensatory misarticulations was calculated. The relationship between cleft type and age at the time of palatal surgery, as independent variables, and speech outcomes were examined.

67.7 and 64.5 percent of the children demonstrated respectively moderate/severe hypernasality and nasal emission, and 71.1 percent produced compensatory misarticulations. Age at the time of palatal repair was significantly associated with compensatory misarticulations and also with moderate/severe hypernasality. The prevalence of compensatory misarticulations, significant hypernasality, nasal emission and also nasal turbulence was not significantly different in various types of cleft.

We observed a high prevalence of different speech disorders in preschool children with repaired cleft palate compared to other studies. This can be partly due to late palatal repair in the studied population. Despite many advances in cleft palate management programs in Iran, there are still many children who do not access the interdisciplinary team cares in their early childhood. We should, therefore, try to increase accessibility of appropriate and timely management services to all Iranian children with cleft lip/palate.