Communication disorders in individuals with cleft lip and palate: An overview
This article provides an introduction to communication disorders in individuals with cleft lip and palate for members of cleft care teams. The speech pathologist is involved in identifying those infants who are at risk for communication disorders and also for initiating early intervention to prevent or mitigate communication disorders caused by the cleft. Even with early cleft repair, some children exhibit 'cleft palate speech' characterized by atypical consonant productions, abnormal nasal resonance, abnormal nasal airflow, altered laryngeal voice quality, and nasal or facial grimaces. These manifestations are evaluated to identify those that (a) are developmental, (b) can be corrected through speech therapy alone, and, (c) those that may require both surgery and speech ther…
Posted by admin Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009
Categories: plastic surgery
Tags: article, care, cleft, cleft lip and palate, cleft repair, communication, communication disorders, early intervention, exhibit, grimaces, intervention, introduction, lip, manifestations, nasal, nasal airflow, palate, palate speech, pathologist, repair, resonance, risk, speech, speech pathologist, speech therapy, voice quality