Objective To characterize the nasal resonance of children with spastic cerebral palsy by comparing it with that of ordinary school-age children.Methods The mean nasalance scores (MNSs) of 90 normal school-age children and 62 school-age children with spastic cerebral palsy were measured and compared.Results (1) Age has significant effects on the MNS of/a/,/i/and/m/ in ordinary children,but has almost no effect on the MNS of/u/.The MNS of/a/,/i/,/u/ and/m/ in children with spastic cerebral palsy does not change with age.(2) Sex only has a significant relationship with the MNS of/i/ in ordinary children,but does not significantly predict the other MNSs.(3) The MNS of/a/ of children with spastic cerebral palsy is significantly lower than that of ordinary children,and their MNS of/i/ and /u/ is significantly greater than those of ordinary children.Conclusions The MNS of /a/,/i/and /u/first increases and then decreases with age in ordinary children,while the MNS of/m/ increases gradually.Children with spastic cerebral palsy did not show the same trends and demonstrated a state of retardation of nasal resonance.Children with spastic cerebral palsy are more likely to display hypernasality than ordinary children. Key words: Children; Spasticity; Cerebral palsy; Nasal resonance; Hypernasality