Speech in 7- and 10-year-olds born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate: a continued prospective Swedish intercentre study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to report longitudinal speech results in consecutively selected children from each of the six cleft centres in Sweden and to compare the results between centres. The children were born with a non-syndromic unilateral cleft lip and palate, and results from the same cohort at 5 years of age have previously been reported. Background data on medical care in terms of surgery, speech therapy, and hearing between 5 and 10 years of age were collected. Speech recordings of 56 children at 7 years and 54 at 10 years of age were blindly and independently assessed by four speech-language pathologists experienced in cleft palate speech. This resulted in measures of percent consonant correct (PCC) and perceived velopharyngeal competence rated on a three-tier scale. No statistically significant differences were found between centres. PCC scores at 7 years of age ranged from 44-100% (median 97.5) and at 10 years of age from 86-100% (median 100). Competent or marginally incompetent velopharyngeal function was found in 95% of the 7-year-olds and 98% of the 10-year-olds. Speech results were slightly better than previous reports of speech in children born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate.