The Timing of Surgery for Cleft Palate. Does It Really Make a Difference for Speech Development?

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Söderpalm, Ewa | Lohmander-Agerskov, Anette

Affiliations: Department of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden

Abstract: The title of this paper highlights one of the major issues over many years in the treatment of the child born with a cleft lip and/or palate – the issue of when and how the cleft palate should be operated on, in order for the child to have the best possible opportunities for normal speech development. In spite of considerable research efforts in many centres over the world since the 1930s, we are still far from having the answers to these questions. Current research seems to indicate that a rephrasing will be necessary before we can answer the questions and further develop the habilitation of the cleft child (Harding & Grunwell, 1998).

Keywords: cleft palate, surgery, speech development

DOI: 10.3233/ACS-1998-8108

Journal: Journal of Clinical Speech and Language Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 39-48, 1998