The present study examines in a longitudinal perspective earlyspeech development in children with partial isolated Cleft palate comparedwith children with unilateral cleft lip and palate and children with typicaldevelopment. The groups were compared regarding consonant production at18 months, 3 and 5 years. The results showed that speech development inchildren with isolated Cleft palate did not differ significantly from that inchildren with typical development except for production of oral fricatives at18 months. The children with unilateral cleft lip and palate had significantlymore speech deviations at all ages. The children in both Cleft palate groupshad significantly higher hearing thresholds at all ages.

The aim of the study was to assess the speech outcome in children with Cleft palate operated with the Gothenburg Technique at Maria Sklodowska Curie Children?s Hospital. Eighteen participants with unilateral cleft lip palate were recorded and assessed through a single word test. Percent consonants correct and cleft speech characteristics were calculated after phonetic transcription. Intelligibility ratings and velopharyngeal composite scores were reported.

This retrospective study aimed to examine differences at age fivebetween twenty-six internationally adopted and twenty-six Swedish-bornchildren with cleft lip and palate regarding age of surgery, speech andintervention. Correlation between age of surgery and speechvariables andgender differences was examined. Blind assessment of audio recordedsentence repetition or naming of words was performed by two speechpathologists. Soft palate was closed significantly later for the study groupthan the control group. Age at closure of hard palate did not differ.

This study highlights the differences in articulation, nasality and intelligibility between twenty 16-year-olds and thirteen 19-year-olds born with isolated Cleft palate and control groups. The test groups are compared in a longitudinal perspective and based on earlier evaluations of velopharyngeal impairment. Significant differences were found between test groups and control groups using quantitative comparisons based on SVenskt Artikulations- och Nasalitets-TEst and NasometerTM. The longitudinal comparison also showed a positive but not significant development of the speech. Differences emerged in the comparisons based on velopharyngeal impairment but no significance analysis was made.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how young adults withunilateral cleft lip and palate assess their own speech and communication,and to let speech and language pathologists make a perceptual analysis ofthese individuals? speech at the age of 19 years. An additional aim was toexamine the relationship between these two different ways of evaluation.Data was collected through perceptual analysis from audio recordings and byusing a self-report questionnaire based on the ICF-structure (InternationalClassification of Function, disability and health). Altogether, 33 peopleparticipated. One third of the participants had no speech deficiencies.

In this comparative study, intelligibility (as measured by SWINT; SwedishIntelligibility Assessment) and self-rated communicative ability (as measuredby SOK; a self-report questionnaire concerning communication) were investigatedin 29 young adults with repaired cleft lip and palate (CLP) and in 50 age-matchedcontrols. The purpose of the study was to investigate if the outcome of these measuresdiffered between groups and/or with regard to sex, and also to identify possiblecorrelations between SOK and SWINT. Results show that young adults withrepaired CLP had a more positive attitude towards their communicative ability thancontrols, as did men with repaired CLP compared to male controls. Intelligibilitydid not differ between the two groups. A correlation between degree of intelligibilityand self-rated communicative ability was found in young adults with repairedCLP.

On children born with a complete cleft lip and palate (CLP) the repair of the alveolar ridge doesn´t take place before the children are about ten years old. This results in that they have a residual cleft in the alveolar ridge during their early childhood. This residual cleft, and the oronasal fistulas that may appear after the repair of the hard palate, can result in a negative influence on the speech of the children. Thereby it may be necessary with cover for examplewith a palatal plate or an obturator. At the Department of Orthodontics, at Linköping University Hospital, Sweden, some of the children with CLP undergo treatment with sustained palatal fistula obturation in order to cover fistulas or residual clefts.

Children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) and children with specific language impairment (SLI) may be affected emotionally and psychosocially by their disorders. Thus, it is important to investigate the psychosocial risk factors that these children are exposed to. The aim of this study was to examine how parents assess the emotional and psychosocial well-being of children with CLP and children with SLI, and if the two parental groups differ in their assessments using the standardized instrument Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Participants in the study were the parents of ten children with unilateral and bilateral CLP between ages 6;7-9;0 (mean age 7;5) and the parents of 13 children between ages 6;4-8;8 (mean age 7;3) who are attending preschools and schools for children with SLI. These parents were asked to complete the questionnaires CBCL and Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ). The children with CLP had lower scores than the children with SLI in all domains of the CBCL, indicating that these children with CLP had better emotional and psychosocial well-being.

In this study the speech of adolescents with unilateral cleft lip andpalate (UCLP) and delayed closure of the hard palate was evaluated.Evaluations were made with experienced speech-language pathologists(SLP:s) and lay listeners. The SLP evaluation consisted of typical Cleft palatespeech variables and some of them were adapted for lay listeners. Attitudestowards the speech of the adolescents were investigated by asking laylisteners if the speech constituted any hindrance to vocational performance.The SLP:s mainly found nasal escape and velopharyngeal impairment (VPI),although to a small degree and extent. The lay listeners mainly foundresonance deviations and indistinct speech. The latter was associated withhindrance to vocational performance.

An instrument for assessing children's attitude towards speech,communication, and communicative participation suitable for children withcleft lip and palate has been missing in speech- and language pathology. Inthe present study a new instrument Självsvarsformulär Om Tal OchKommunikation was tested on typically developed school children. The aimwas to obtain norm values for children in grade 4 and 7 and to examine thereliability and validity of the instrument. 104 children participated. Data wascollected in groups of 5-6 children.

Syfte: Syftet med den här studien var att kartlägga upplevelsen av omhändertagandet bland föräldrar till LKG-patienter och unga vuxna LKG-patienter i södra Sverige. Material och metod: Samtliga av de artiklar som presenteras i den här rapporten har erhållits genom litteratursökning på PubMed. Främst användes artiklar som berör upplevelsen av omhändertagandet, men även litteratur och hemsidor från svenska sjukhus och LKG-föreningar bidrog med information. För djupare förståelse av och för att erhålla ytterligare information om omhändertagandet i södra Sverige utfördes även en intervju med Ingemar Swanholm, ortodontist vid SUS. I denna enkätstudie tillfrågades 55 personer, varav 24 var föräldrar till barn med LKG och 31 var unga vuxna LKG-patienter.

Velopharyngeal insufficiency may affect resonance, articulation and thus how speech is perceived by other listeners. Velopharyngeal insufficiency is frequently found in the Cleft palate population due to structural abnormalities of the palate. The pharyngeal flap is the most commonly used operation designed to improve velopharyngeal function. The aim of the present study was to compare speech before and after pharyngeal flap surgery by perceptual evaluation regarding nasality, articulation and deviant speech. The study includes preoperative and postoperative speech samples of 28 patients who underwent pharyngeal flap surgery at the University Hospital in Linköping between 2002 and 2007.

The Nasometer is a non-invasive acoustic measuring instrument that quantifies the ratio ofnasal resonance in speech. It can be used as a complement to perceptual judgment of speech impediments, for example, in patients with Cleft palate and velopharyngeal insufficiency. Inorder to determine if a nasalance score is abnormal, it must be compared to norm data. The main purpose of the study was to collect reference nasalance scores in children between fourand five years of age in Linköping. An additional objective was to compare the results tonorm data collected in Umeå.

Syftet med denna studie var att, utifrån vetenskaplig litteratur, beskriva hur föräldrar till barn med läpp-, käk- och gomspalt (LKG) upplevde beskedet och den första tiden efter barnets födelse, samt hur de bemöttes av vårdpersonalen. Litteratursökningen genomfördes i Medline och totalt valdes 15 vetenskapliga artiklar ut till föreliggande studies resultat. Många föräldrar till barn med LKG befinner sig den första tiden efter beskedet i en utsatt situation, deras funderingar kan vara många och behovet av stöd kan vara stort. Föreliggande studie visade att en viktig faktor för föräldrarnas upplevelse och välmående var grundlig information och stöd till föräldrarna, givna av välutbildad och erfaren vårdpersonal och att de inte enbart såg till barnets missbildning utan även till barnets hälsa. Vid sjukhusvistelse borde vårdpersonalen uppmärksamma föräldrars eventuella behov av att få känna sig delaktiga i vården av sitt barn.

Läpp-, käk och gomspalt (LKG) kan medföra svårigheter med tal, artikulation och röst. Enligt tidigare forskning har vuxna individer behandlade för LKG liknande förekomst av röstavvikelser som kontrollpersoner utan spalt. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka grad av röstavvikelser hos vuxna patienter behandlade för enkelsidig LKG och kartlägga eventuella samband mellan röstavvikelser och kirurgiska metoder för gomslutning, kön och operation med eller utan svalglambå samt jämföra röstresultat med data från individer utan LKG. Sjuttio patienter behandlade för enkelsidig genomgående LKG deltog i studien, varav 45 patienter hade opererats med gomslutning i en seans och 25 patienter hade opererats i två seanser. Elva av patienterna i patientgruppen hade genomgått svalglambåoperation.