Associations Between Hypernasality, Intelligibility, and Language and Reading Skills in 10-Year-Old Children With a Palatal Cleft

Abstract

Background: This study investigated the associations between hypernasality and intelligibility, and language and reading skills in 10-year old children with a cleft palate ± lip. Design: Cross-sectional data collected during routine assessments of speech and language in a centralized treatment setting. Participants: Children aged 10, born with cleft palate ± lip from 4 birth cohorts (N = 123). Outcome Measures: Hypernasality and intelligibility: Swedish Articulation and Nasality Test-N; language: Language 6-16 (Sentence recall, Serial recall, Vocabulary); reading: word chain test and reading comprehension test. Results: A total of 71.3% of the children had no occurrence of hypernasality and 82.8% had intelligibility scores within the normal range. For all children with hypernasality and intelligibility within the normal range, reading and language scores were also within normal ranges. Children with presence of hypernasality had significantly lower language skills, with mean scores within the lower normal range. Children with reduced intelligibility had lower scores on reading comprehension. Conclusions: The findings highlight a possible association between hypernasality and language skills, and intelligibility and reading skills. Cleft teams should consider routine assessments of language and reading skills in children with speech impairment, in order to identify potential needs for intervention as early as possible.

Word Reading in Boys With Isolated Oral Clefts: Comparison to Unaffected Average and Dyslexic Readers Using the Dual-Route Model

“…Additional effects of cleft type on speech and hearing issues require further investigation. Recently, measures of hypernasality and reduced intelligibility were associated with a higher risk of reading and language problems, including poorer comprehension (Saervold et al, 2019).…”

“…Speech issues are a risk factor for reading impairments and dyslexia in general, but research for children with iCL/P is mixed. Some studies have found relationships between speech and reading impairments (Chapman, 2011; Særvold et al, 2019), while others have not (Conrad et al, 2014; Conrad, 2018).…”

Retrospective Evaluation of Number of Surgeries and Parent Ratings of Academic and Behavioral Functioning Among Children With Isolated Oral Clefts

“…Other researchers have evaluated the potential impact of early hearing loss or disrupted speech (Særvold et al, 2019; Chapman, 2011b). Although these are key factors in developing academic skills, other researchers continue to find differences after controlling for speech or hearing (Shriver et al, 2006; Hentges et al, 2011; Conrad et al, 2014).…”

Does the narrative ability during retelling differ in 5-year-olds born with and without unilateral cleft lip and palate?

“…Recently, two studies on linguistic ability in 10-year-olds with CLP have been published [33,34]. In a study by Boyce et al [33], a total of 37 participants with non-syndromic orofacial clefts, aged 7; 1-14; 1 years, were matched to 129 non-cleft peers regarding age, gender and maternal education.…”

“…No significant differences were seen in expressive and receptive language skills. According to Saervold et al [34], 123 10-year-olds with non-syndromic CP, without developmental or attention difficulties, displayed scores regarding sentence recall, serial recall, and vocabulary within normal ranges. Speech problems in children with CLP as a group decrease with increasing age [35], and it may be that in non-syndromic children with CLP, scores on linguistic tests normalizes as speech normalizes.…”