Impact of timing of Palatal repair on Speech Errors in Children with CLP

Abstract

Surgery of palate is one of the important rehabilitation for children with cleft lip and palate. In most of the children with cleft lip and palate (CLP), speech errors persist even after surgical repair of the palate. However, the timing of palatal repair plays a vital role. The associated problems in children with cleft lip and palate differ based on the timing of the palatal repair. Resonance and articulation are the crucial measures of disordered speech and they form the important areas of therapeutic interv2ention for children with repaired cleft lip and palate (RCLP). Thus, the present study aims at profiling resonance and consonant production errors (CPEs) in children with RCLP among early intervention group (EIG) and delayed intervention group (DIG). The research design employed was standard group comparison. The participants consisted of eight Kannada speaking children with RCLP (6 to 12 years) in each group (EIG and DIG). They were asked to repeat 10 meaningful bisyllabic words loaded with pressure consonants to assess the resonance and 8 non-meaningful bisyllabic words loaded with stop consonants to check CPEs. The responses were recorded in a sound-treated room and were presented to three Speech Language Pathologists for assessing resonance and CPEs using Henningsson’s protocol. The results revealed a statistically significant reduction in the resonance and few CPEs in EIG than in DIG. ‘Nasalized voiced pressure consonants’ and ‘weak oral pressure’ were found to be significantly lesser in EIG than DIG. The present study concludes that early surgical intervention has a direct impact on reducing hypernasality and CPEs in children with CLP. Children with CLP require early surgical intervention and therapy to establish appropriate oral motor skills that are necessary for normal speech production.