title: Speech intelligibility of children with unilateral cleft lip and palate (Dutch cleft) following a one-stage Wardill-Kilner palatoplasty, as judged by their parents.
abstract: This study determined the intelligibility (words, sentences and story telling) of 43 children (mean age 4.9 years) with unilateral cleft lip and palate who received a Wardill-Kilner palatoplasty, as judged by their parents and determined the influence of age and gender. A comparison with normative data for intelligibility of 163 Dutch speaking children was made. Each child and the parents completed The Dutch intelligibility test. Measures reported include group mean intelligibility percentages for words, sentences and story telling for children aged 2.5-5.0 and 5.0-7.6 years. A significant correlation between age of the children and intelligibility was measured. No significant gender-related differences were found. An interesting finding is the absence of significant difference in intelligibility percentage between the children with cleft palate and the normative data for story telling. The reported intelligibility percentages provide important prognostic reference information for surgeons who perform palatoplasty and speech pathologists who assess the speech production of children with cleft palate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery and Speech and Language Pathology, Craniofacial Team, Gent University Hospital, Belgium. kristiane.vanlierde@ugent.be
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Van Lierde
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luyten
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Borsel
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baudonck
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Debusschere
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vermeersch
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bonte
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000601:surgery*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010159:Palate / Q000601:surgery*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010700:Phonetics; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D013065:Speech Intelligibility / Q000502:physiology*