The Impact of Early Intervention on Speech and Lexical Development for Toddlers With Cleft Palate: A Retrospective Look at Outcome

• Published in: Language, speech & hearing services in schools speech & hearing services in schools, 2008-01, Vol.39 (1), p.89-96
• Main Authors: Hardin-Jones, Mary, Chapman, Kathy L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Care and treatment; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Cleft palate; Cleft Palate - epidemiology; Clinical outcomes; Comparative Analysis; Congenital Impairments; Early Intervention; Early Intervention (Education); Female; Glides; Humans; Investigations; Language Acquisition; Language Development Disorders - epidemiology; Language Development Disorders - therapy; Language Skills; Language Therapy - methods; Male; Measures (Individuals); Multivariate Analysis; Oral cavity; Orofacial clefts; Outcomes of Treatment; Parent Participation; Preschool children; Preschool education; Program Effectiveness; Resonants; Retrospective Studies; Social aspects; Speech Communication; Speech disorders in children; Speech Language Pathology; Speech Therapy; Speech Therapy - methods; Speech-language pathologists; Studies; Therapy; Toddlers; Treatment Outcome; Vocabulary; Young Children
• ISSN: 0161-1461; 1558-9129
• DOI: 10.1044/0161-1461(2008/009)

Kathy L. Chapman University of Utah, Salt Lake City Contact author: Mary Hardin-Jones, Division of Communication Disorders, Dept. 3311, The University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071. E-mail: mhardinj{at}uwyo.edu . Purpose: The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the impact of early intervention on speech and lexical measures for toddlers with cleft palate. Method: Speech measures of ten 27-month-old toddlers with cleft palate who had been referred for therapy at 17 months of age were compared to those of 10 toddlers with cleft palate who had been referred but did not receive therapy. Both groups were compared to 2 other groups of children who had never been referred for therapy. Results: Multivariate analysis of variance revealed only 1 significant difference between the children who received therapy and those who did not receive therapy. Children who received therapy produced a significantly greater percentage of glides ( p < .001) than did children who did not receive therapy. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that early intervention as conducted by the speech-language pathologists in this study was not as effective as expected for this group of toddlers with cleft palate. KEY WORDS: cleft palate, early intervention CiteULike     Connotea     Del.icio.us     Digg     Facebook     Reddit     Technorati     Twitter     What's this?