Conversational skills of preschool and school-age children with cleft lip and palate.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine the conversational skills of preschool and school-age children with cleft lip and palate.


METHODS
The children were audio- and videotaped during interactions with an unfamiliar adult. In addition, standardized measures of speech and language were administered, and ratings of resonance were obtained. Comparisons were made between the children with cleft lip and palate and their same-age peers on measures of conversational participation and a standardized test of pragmatic skills.


METHODS
Participants were 20 children with unilateral cleft lip and palate (10 preschoolers and 10 school-age children) recruited from the Craniofacial Team at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Cleveland (OH) and 20 noncleft peers matched for gender, age, and socioeconomic status.


METHODS
Separate comparisons were made for the preschool children with cleft lip and palate and their noncleft peers, and the school-age children with cleft lip and palate and their noncleft peers on eight measures of conversational assertiveness/responsiveness and the standardized tests of pragmatics. Next, each child with cleft lip and palate was classified for level of conversational participation.


RESULTS
Paired t tests revealed no significant differences between the preschool and school-age children with cleft lip and palate and their noncleft peers in level of conversational participation. However, individual child comparisons revealed less assertive profiles of conversational participation for 50% of the preschool and 20% of the school-age children with cleft lip and palate.


CONCLUSIONS
Children with cleft lip and palate may show a less assertive style of conversational participation, at least during the preschool years. Therefore, craniofacial team evaluations should include examination of conversational competency, particularly for children who are demonstrating difficulty with other aspects of speech, language, or social development.
Chapman
K L
KL
Department of Communication Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA. kxc5@po.cwru.edu
Graham
K T
KT
Gooch
J
J
Visconti
C
C
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003142:Communication; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018579:Patient Selection; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013062:Speech Articulation Tests / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013637:Tape Recording; D014743:Videotape Recording