The focus of this study was to determine if there is any significant difference in academic achievement for girls and boys with a cleft compared to the general population of Swedish students at graduation from compulsory school.
Design:
A retrospective population-based study using data obtained from the Swedish Medical Birth Register that was linked to the Swedish School–Grade Register.
Participants:
Two hundred seventy girls and 241 boys with cleft palate (CP), 222 girls and 429 boys with cleft lip (CL), and 299 girls and 531 boys with cleft lip and palate (CLP) were compared with the compulsory school population comprising 609,397 girls and 640,007 boys.
Main Outcome Measures:
(1) Odds of receiving the lowest grade and reduced odds in receiving high grades in Mathematics, English, and Swedish. (2) grade point average (GPA).
Results:
In all 3 subject grades, for boys with cleft there was no difference when compared to the male population. Girls with cleft were similar to their peers with a few exceptions. Girls with CLP had lower Math grades, and girls with CP had lower Math, English, and Swedish grades. Girls with CP and CLP achieved a significantly lower GPA in comparison to the female population and boys with CP and CL achieved lower GPAs in comparison to the male population.
Conclusions:
This study indicates that educational outcomes for girls with cleft are more negatively affected than for boys with cleft.
Aberg-BengtssonLEricksonG. Dimensions of national test performance: a two-level approach. Educ Res Eval. 2006;12:469–488.
2.
BeckerDBCoalsonRSSachanandaniNSFairDLugarHMKirchnerLESchlaggarBLKaneAA. Functional neuroanatomy of lexical processing in children with cleft lip and palate. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2008;122:1371–1382.
3.
BroderHLRichmanLCMathesonPB. Learning disability, school achievement, and grade retention among children with cleft: a two-center study. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 1998;35:127–131.
4.
BuchmannCDiPreteTAMcDanielA. Gender inequalities in education. Annu Rev Sociol. 2008;34:319–337.
5.
ChapmanKL. The relationship between early reading skills and speech and language performance in young children with cleft lip and palate. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2011;48:301–311.
6.
CnattingiusSEricsonAGunnarskogJKallenB. A quality study of a medical birth registry. Scand J Soc Med. 1990;18:143–148.
7.
CohenJ. Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. 2nd ed. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum; 1988.
8.
CohenJ. A power primer. Psychol Bull. 1992;112:155–159.
9.
CollettBRStott-MillerMKapp-SimonKACunninghamMLSpeltzML. Reading in children with orofacial clefts versus controls. J Pediatr Psychol. 2010;35:199–208.
10.
ConradALDaileySRichmanLCanadyJKarnellMPAxelsonENopoulosP. Cerebellum structure differences and relationship to speech in boys and girls with nonsyndromic cleft of the lip and/or palate. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2010;47:469–475.
11.
DowneyDBVogt YuanAS. Sex differences in school performance during high school: puzzling patterns and possible explanations. Sociol Q. 2005;46:299–321.
12.
DuckworthALSeligmanMEP. Self-discipline gives girls the edge: gender in self-discipline, grades, and achievement test scores. J Educ Psychol. 2006;98:198–208.
13.
EideMGSkjaervenRIrgensLMBjerkedalTOyenN. Associations of birth defects with adult intellectual performance, disability and mortality: population-based cohort study. Pediatr Res. 2006;59:848–853.
14.
FarkasGGrobeRPSheehanDShuanY. Cultural resources and school success: gender, ethnicity, and poverty groups within an urban school district. Am Sociol Rev. 1990;55:127–142.
15.
FeragenKBStockNMKvalemIL. Risk and protective factors at age 16: psychological adjustment in children with a cleft lip and/or palate. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2015;52:555–573.
16.
FeragenKBStockNMRumseyN. Toward a reconsideration of inclusion and exclusion criteria in cleft lip and palate: implications for psychological research. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2014;51:569–578.
17.
FlynnTLohmanderA. A longitudinal study of hearing and middle ear status in individuals with UCLP. Otol Neurotol. 2014;35:989–996.
18.
HalpernDF.Sex differences in intelligence. Implications for education. Am Psychol. 1997;52:1091–1102.
19.
JacobBA. Where the boys aren’t: noncognitive skills, returns to school and the gender gap in higher education. Econ Educ Rev. 2002;21:589–598.
Kapp-SimonKAMcGuireDE. Observed social interaction patterns in adolescents with and without craniofacial conditions. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 1997;34:380–384.
22.
Kapp-SimonKASimonDJKristovichS. Self-perception, social skills, adjustment, and inhibition in young adolescents with craniofacial anomalies. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 1992;29:352–356.
23.
KeeleyB. OECD Insights: Human Capital: How What You Know Shapes Your Life. Paris: OECD; 2007.
24.
KnightJCassellCHMeyerREStraussRP. Academic outcomes of children with isolated orofacial clefts compared with children without a major birth defect. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2015;52:259–268.
25.
LekholmAKCliffordsonC. Discrepancies between school grades and test scores at individual and school level: effects of gender and family background. Educ Res Eval. 2008;14:181–199.
26.
MantelNHaenszelW. Statistical aspects of the analysis of data from retrospective studies of disease. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1959;22:719–748.
27.
McWilliamsBJMusgraveRHFoxDLynchJBrookshireB. Psychological implications of articulation disorders in cleft palate children. Cleft Palate J. 1972;9:294.
28.
MiettinenO. Simple interval estimation of risk ratios. Am J Epidemiol. 1974;100:515–516.
29.
MoffittTECaspiARutterMSilvaPA. Sex Differences in Antisocial Behavior: Conduct Disorder, Delinquency, and Violence in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 2001.
30.
MuterV. Early Reading Development and Dyslexia. London: Whurr; 2003.
31.
National Agency for Education. Education Results—National Level. http://www.skolverket.se. Published 2014.
32.
National Agency for Education. 2007. Provbetyg-slutbetyg-likvärdig bedömning? En statistisk analys av sambandet mellan nationella prov och slutbetyg i grundskolans årskurs 9, 1998-2006 [Test grade-leaving certificate—equal assessment? A statistical analysis of the relation between national tests and final grades in compulsory school, year 9, 1998-2006]. Stockholm: National Agency for Education.
NopoulosPBergSVanDemarkDRichmanLCanadyJAndreasenNC. Cognitive dysfunction in adult males with non-syndromic clefts of the lip and/or palate. Neuropsychologia. 2002;40:2178–2184.
35.
NopoulosPLangbehnDRCanadyJMagnottaVRichmanL. Abnormal brain structure in children with isolated clefts of the lip or palate. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161:753–758.
36.
OECD. Education at a Glance. Paris: OECD; 2006.
37.
OECD. Education at a Glance. Paris: OECD; 2007a.
38.
OECD. Understanding the Social Outcomes of Learning. Paris: OECD; 2007b.
OECD. PISA 2009 Results: What Students Know and Can Do—Student Performance in Reading, Mathematics and Science (Volume I). Paris: OECD; 2010b.
41.
OECD. Education at a Glance 2014: OECD Indicators. Paris: OECD; 2014.
42.
PerssonMBeckerMSvenssonH. General intellectual capacity of young men with cleft lip with or without cleft palate and cleft palate alone. Scand J Plast Reconstr Surg Hand Surg. 2008;42:14–16.
43.
PerssonMBeckerMSvenssonH. Academic achievement in individuals with cleft: a population-based register study. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2012;49:153–159.
44.
PopeAWSnyderHT. Psychosocial adjustment in children and adolescents with a craniofacial anomaly: age and sex patterns. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2005;42:349–354.
45.
RichmanLC. Cognitive patterns and learning disabilities of cleft palate children with verbal deficits. J Speech Hear Res. 1980;23:447–456.
46.
RichmanLCEliasonM. Psychological characteristics of children with cleft lip and palate: intellectual, achievement, behavioral and personality variables. Cleft Palate J. 1982;19:249–257.
47.
RichmanLCEliasonM. Type of reading disability related to cleft type and neuropsychological patterns. Cleft Palate J. 1984;21:1–6.
48.
RichmanLCEliasonMJLindgrenSD. Reading disability in children with clefts. Cleft Palate J. 1988;25:21–25.
49.
RichmanLCMcCoyTEConradALNopoulosPC. Neuropsychological, behavioral, and academic sequelae of cleft: early developmental, school age, and adolescent/young adult outcomes. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2012;49:387–396.
50.
RichmanLCWilgenbuschTHallT. Spontaneous verbal labeling: visual memory and reading ability in children with cleft. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2005;42:565–569.
51.
RutterMCaspiAFergussonDHorwoodLJGoodmanRMaughanBMoffittTEMeltzerHCarrollJ. Sex differences in developmental reading disability: new findings from 4 epidemiological studies. JAMA. 2004;291:2007–12.
52.
SellDGrunwellPMildinhallSMurphyTCornishTABearnDShawWCMurrayJJWilliamsACSandyJR. (2001). Cleft lip and palate care in the United Kingdom--the Clinical Standards Advisory Group (CSAG) Study. Part 3: speech outcomes. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2001;38:30–37.
53.
ShriverASCanadyJRichmanLAndreasenNCNopoulosP. Structure and function of the superior temporal plane in adult males with cleft lip and palate: pathologic enlargement with no relationship to childhood hearing deficits. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006;47:994–1002.
54.
SilvermanIW. Gender differences in delay of gratification: a meta-analysis. Sex Roles. 2003;49:451–463.
55.
Skolverket. Descriptive data on pre-school activities, school-age childcare, schools and adult education in Sweden 2006 (283). Stockholm: Skolverket; 2006a.
56.
Skolverket. Gender differences in goal fulfilment and education choices. Stockholm: Skolverket; 2006b.
SliferKJAmariADiverTHilleyLBeckMKaneAMcDonnellS. Social interaction patterns of children and adolescents with and without oral clefts during a videotaped analogue social encounter. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2004;41:175–184.
59.
Socialstyrelsen. Official Statistics of Sweden—Birth Defects 2012 (978-91-7555-119-7). http://www.socialstyrelsen.se. Published2013.
60.
WehbyGLColletBBarronSRomittiPAAnsleyTNSpeltzM. Academic achievement of children and adolescents with oral clefts. Pediatrics. 2014;133:785–792.
61.
YazdyMMAutryARHoneinMAFriasJL. Use of special education services by children with orofacial clefts. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol. 2008;82:147–154.
