The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between articulation rate, frequency and duration of disfluencies of different types, and temperament in preschool children who stutter (CWS). In spontaneous speech samples from 19 children CWS (mean age = 3:9; years: months), we measured articulation rate, the frequency and duration of (a) sound prolongations; (b) soundsyllable repetitions; (c) single syllable whole word repetitions; and (d) clusters. Temperament was assessed with the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (Rothbart et al., 2001). There was a significant negative correlation between articulation rate and average duration of sound prolongations (p<0.01), and between articulation rate and frequency of stuttering-like disfluencies (SLDs) (p<0.05). No other relationships proved statistically significant. Results do not support models of stuttering development that implicate particular characteristics of temperament as proximal contributors to stuttering; however, this is likely due to the fact that current methods, including the ones used in the present study, do not allow for the identification of a functional relationship between temperament and speech production. Findings do indicate that for some CWS, relatively longer sound prolongations co-occur with relatively slower speech rate, which suggests that sound prolongations, across a range of durations, may represent a distinct type of SLD, not just in their obvious perceptual characteristics, but in their potential influence on overall speech production at multiple levels.

Objective: To assess (1) whether Hawley retainers cause speech disturbance and (2) the duration of speech adaptation to Hawley retainers with objective and subjective tests. Materials and Methods: Twelve adolescents, aged 11.11 to 18.03 years, were included in this study. The assessment of speech sounds were done subjectively using an articulation test and objectively using acoustic analysis before and after Hawley retainer application. Results: After wearing Hawley retainers, patients showed statistically significant speech disturbances on consonants [ş] and [z]. Regarding the vowels, statistically significant changes were recorded with [i], while F1 increased and F2 and F3 decreased. Conclusions: The tongue changes its target position with the application of a foreign body within the mouth; however, in time it adapts to that new situation. (Angle Orthod. 2012;82:14-21.)

Submucous cleft palate (SMCP) is a relatively rare variant of the common pathology of cleft palate with specific anatomic and clinical features. Even though there are many surgical options defined previously to correct the SMCP, correction of the velopharyngeal insufficiency and obtaining ideal speech results remains as a challenge. The aim of this article was to compare the speech benefits of Furlow double opposing Z plasty and posterior pharyngeal flap operation combined with intravelar veloplasty for the correction of SMCP using objective assessment tools. This study reviewed 29 patients who underwent either superiorly based posterior pharyngeal flap combined with intravelar veloplasty or Furlow palatoplasty for submucous cleft palate repair between years 2005 and 2011. The mean standard deviation age at palate repair was 123.6 ± 65.8 months and the mean follow-up period was 31.2 ± 15.9 months. The postoperative results demonstrated that in both groups significantly correction has been achieved in means of velopharygeal closure (P values for Furlow and pharyngeal flap groups are 0.012 and 0.001 respectively). The correction of the nasalance scores obtained depending on the surgical procedure for /şa/ and /ka/ syllables demonstrated significantly more benefit with pharyngeal flap combined with intravelar veloplasty than Furlow palatoplasty (P = 0.026 for each). In the treatment of submucous clefts, both Furlow palatoplasty and pharyngeal flap procedure combined with intravelar veloplasty appear to be effective whereas for the patients having significant signs of hypernasality, contribution of pharyngeal flap may be taken into consideration.

The Hawley retainer affected articulatory movements in consonant-vowel combinations more prominently than the Essix retainer did. Voice onset time of the consonant [d] in the Hawley group was shorter than normal, indicating rapid articulatory movement in the alveolar region.

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Development of normal speech is the primary goal of successful palatoplasty. The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of the contribution of vomer flap to palatoplasty procedure for speech function. Eighty-one children who underwent 2 flap palatoplasty procedures for cleft palate repair between 2002 and 2010 were retrospectively reviewed in 3 groups. Group 1 underwent palatoplasty without contribution of vomer flap. Group 2 underwent palatoplasty with standard dissection of vomer flap, whereas group 3 underwent palatoplasty with extended dissection of vomer flap. Speech function of the patients was evaluated using objective assessment tools such as nasopharyngoscopy and nasometer. Eighty-one children who underwent 2 flap palatoplasty were included in this study. The mean age at palatoplasty was 10.17 months, and mean length of follow-up was 72.33 months. For most syllables, patients repaired using extended vomer flap demonstrated lower nasalance scores. Nasopharyngoscopic examination revealed velopharyngeal motility in 24 patients (80%) in group 1 and in 20 (83.3%) and 23 (85.2%) patients in groups 2 and 3, respectively (P = 0.930). In velopharyngeal closure, there were only 5 patients (18.5%) in group 3, whereas there were 6 patients (25.0%) for group 2 and 10 patients (33.3%) for group 1 with no closure (P = 0.311). Although most optimum results were observed in the group with extended dissection of the vomer flap, contribution of the extended vomer flap to the repair of the soft palate did not lead to significantly better speech results.

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