Does cleft lip and palate affect speech?
What speech problems might children with cleft palate have? Speech Sound Development: Children born with cleft palate may have a delay in the beginning of speech and development of speech sounds. In addition, children with cleft palate may produce speech errors that are directly related to clefting.
What speech characteristics are associated with cleft lip and palate?
Individuals with cleft lip and palate may also exhibit dysphonia. This is characterized by breathiness, hoarseness, and low intensity of voice during speech tasks. This is usually due to increased respiratory and muscular effort, and hyper-adduction of vocal folds while attempting to close the velopharyngeal valve.
What is done in speech therapy?
During speech therapy for children, the SLP may: interact through talking and playing, and using books, pictures other objects as part of language intervention to help stimulate language development. model correct sounds and syllables for a child during age-appropriate play to teach the child how to make certain sounds.
What is best treatment for cleft lip?
A cleft is usually treated with surgery. Other treatments, such as speech therapy and dental care, may also be needed. Your child will be cared for by a specialist cleft team at an NHS cleft centre.
What sounds do children with cleft palate struggle with?
Compensatory misarticulations are speech problems that are unique to children with a cleft palate. These sounds can sound like the pause in the middle of the word, “uh-oh” (a glottal stop). They can also sound like growling or “throat” sounds.
At what age should I be worried about my child’s speech?
If your child is over two years old, you should have your pediatrician evaluate them and refer them for speech therapy and a hearing exam if they can only imitate speech or actions but don’t produce words or phrases by themselves, they say only certain words and only those words repeatedly, they cannot follow simple …
At what age should cleft lip be repaired?
The cleft lip usually is corrected early in a child’s life, between 3 to 6 months of age, but sometimes later. Cleft lip surgery will correct the cleft and usually will leave minimal scarring.
Why are cleft palates bad?
For a cleft palate, the soft part of the palate at the back of the mouth may be involved, or the cleft may affect the bony part of the palate (hard palate). These defects can cause feeding and developmental problems, poor dental development, trouble with speech, and frequent colds, sore throats, and ear infections.
Can you tell if a baby has a cleft lip in the womb?
Cleft palate and cleft lip can be detected in-utero (before birth). If an ultrasound reveals your baby has these conditions, a treatment plan can be developed even before the child is born.
What happens if cleft palate is not treated?
Children with cleft palate are at increased risk of ear infections since they are more prone to fluid build-up in the middle ear. If left untreated, ear infections can cause hearing loss.