The impact of cleft type on early vocal development in babies with cleft palate.

Abstract

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the impact of cleft type on early sound development in children with cleft palate (with or without cleft lip). The participants included 53 babies with unrepaired cleft palate aged 8 to 10 months. Thirty-five babies had cleft lip and palate (CLP) and 18 had cleft palate only (CPO). Spontaneous vocalizations of the CLP and CPO groups were compared to determine whether differences were evident in canonical babbling, size of consonant inventory as well as place and manner of consonant production, and frequency of vocalization. Student's t tests revealed no significant differences between the groups in canonical babbling, size of consonant inventory, place and manner of consonant production, or frequency of vocalization. However, there was a trend for babies in the CPO group to produce fewer compensatory stop consonants and more anterior place features. In addition, a larger percentage of children in the CPO group had entered the canonical babbling stage at the time of this study. In general, the findings of this study suggested that cleft type does not appear to play a significant role in early consonant development for babies with cleft palate. Additional study using a larger CPO group is recommended to further investigate the trend toward better performance noted in this group.