Speech Disorders of Individuals According to the Type of Cleft

Abstract

The incidence and the relative frequency of various speech disorders in a large sampling of individuals with clefts have been reported by the present authors (8). For that survey, the speech evaluation data obtained from persons with all types of clefts, persons classified as having functionally insufficient palates without structural cleft, and those with other types of labial and palatal anomalies were combined. The sampling procedure of this sort is questionable. Furthermore, some evidences have been provided that these individuals constitute a non-homogenous population (5), and that the speech skills of individuals with various types of clefts may differ (6, '7), while others find no significant difference in communication abilities among the subgroups of the cleft population (2, 4). Therefore, the present authors have reanalyzed the above mentioned data to determine the incidence of speech disorders occurring in persons with the same types of clefts. Procedure The speech of 1061 persons was evaluated at the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic by one of the authors (R.T.M.). These persons were of various ages and at various stages of therapy for their cleft and speech. The information included in this survey was obtained at the time of diagnostic evaluation at the Clinic. Articulation defects, nasality, articulation defects plus nasality, voice disorders other than nasality, stuttering, cluttering, delayed speech, cerebral palsy, and disorders associated with bilin-gualism were the diagnostic categories used. Persons exhibiting ade— quate speech in the opinion of the examiner were also included. The Veau system of classification of clefts was used along with two additional classifications: palatal insufficiency (PI) and miscellaneous. The PI group consisted of persons with functional velopharyngeal incompetency without apparent structural cleft.