The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether palatal obturators enhance consonant development during babbling for babies with unrepaired cleft palate.
Participants
Fourteen babies with cleft palate who had worn anterior palatal obturators prior to palatal surgery were matched to 14 unobturated babies according to cleft type, sex, and age at time of presurgical evaluation.
Main outcome Measures
Spontaneous vocalizations of the obturated and unobturated groups were compared to determine whether differences were evident in size of consonant inventory as well as place and manner of consonant production.
Results
Paired t tests revealed no significant differences between the groups in size of consonant inventory or place and manner of consonant production. There was a trend for babies in the obturated group to produce more glottal consonants.
Conclusions
In general, the findings of this study suggested that palatal obturators do not appear to facilitate production of anterior palatal consonants during babbling.
ChapmanK.L.. Vocalizations of toddlers with cleft lip and palate.Cleft Palate Craniofac J.1991; 28: 172–178.
2.
CopelandM.. The effects of very early palatal repair on speech.Br J Plast Surg.1990; 43: 676–682.
3.
DorfD.S., ReisbergD.J., GoldH.O.. Early prosthetic management of cleft palate. Articulation development prosthesis: a preliminary report.J Prosthet Dent.1985; 53: 222–226.
4.
GruberH.. Presurgical maxillary orthopedics. In: BardachJ., MorrisH.L., eds. Multidisciplinary Management of Cleft Lip and Palate.Philadelphia: WB Saunders;1990.
5.
Hardin-JonesM.A., ChapmanK.L., SchulteJ., HalterK.A.. Vocal development of 9 month old babies with cleft palate. Presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Annual Convention; 1999; San Francisco, California.
6.
HubertyC.J., MorrisJ.D.. Multivariate analysis versus univariate analyses.Psychol Bull.1989; 105: 302–308.
7.
HuebenerD.V., MarshJ.L.. Alveolar molding appliance in the treatment of cleft lip and palate infants. In: BardachJ., MorrisH.L., eds. Multidisciplinary Management of Cleft Lip and Palate.Philadelphia: WB Saunders;1990.
8.
HuebenerD.V., MarshJ.L.. Management of cleft lip and palate: the first 18 months. Presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Cleft Palate Association; 1997; New Orleans, Louisiana.
9.
KonstE.M., Weersink-BraksH., RietveldT., PetersH.. Prelexical development of unilateral cleft lip and palate babies with reference to presurgical infant orthopedics: a randomized prospective clinical trial.Clin Linguist Phonet.1999; 13: 395–407.
10.
Kemp-FinchamS.I., KuehnD.P., Trost-CardamoneJ.E.. Speech development and the timing of primary palatoplasty. In: BardachJ., MorrisH.L., eds. Multidisciplinary Management of Cleft Lip and Palate.Philadelphia: WB Saunders;1990.
11.
Lohmander-AgerskovA.. Speech outcome after cleft palate surgery with the Goteborg regimen including delayed hard palate closure.Scand J Plast Reconstr Hand Surg.1998; 32: 63–80.
12.
Lohmander-AgerskovA., SoderpalmE., FriedeH., LiljaJ.. A comparison of babbling and speech at pre-speech level, 3 and 5 years of age in children with cleft lip and palate treated with delayed hard palate closure.Folia Phoniatr Logop.1998; 50: 320–334.
13.
Lohmander-AgerskovA., SoderpalmE., FriedeH., PerssonE., LiljaJ.. Pre-speech in children with cleft lip and palate or cleft palate only: phonetic analysis related to morphologic and functional factors.Cleft Palate Craniofac J.1994; 31: 271–279.
14.
OllerD.K.. Infant vocalizations and the development of speech.Allied Health Behav Sci.1978; 1: 523–549.
15.
OllerD.K.. Logical International Phonetic Program (Computer Software).Miami: Intelligent Hearing Systems; 1990.
16.
OllerD.K.. Metaphonology and infant vocalizations. In: LondblomB., ZetterstromR., eds. Precursors of early Speech.New York: Stockholm Press;1986.
OlsenD.A.. A Descriptive Study of the Speech Development of a Group of Infants With Cleft Palate.Evanston, IL: Northwestern University;1965. Dissertation.
RandallP., LaRossaD.D., FakhraceS.M., CohenM.. Cleft palate closure at 3–7 months of age: a preliminary report.Plast Reconstr Surg.1983; 71: 624–628.
21.
RosensteinS., DadoD.V., KernahanD., GriffithB.H., GrasseschiM.. The case for early bone grafting in cleft lip and palate: a second report.Plast Reconstr Surg.1991; 87: 644–654.
22.
RvachewS., SlawinskiE.B., WilliamsM., GreenC.L.. The impact of early onset otitis media on babbling and early language development.J Acoust Soc Am.1999; 105: 467–475.
23.
SadoveA.M., EppleyB.L.. Timing of alveolar bone grafting.Probl Plast Surg.1992; 2: 39–57.
24.
ShribergL.D., KentR.D.. Clinical Phonetics.Boston: Allyn and Bacon;1995.
StarkR.. Stages of speech development in the first year of life. In: Yeni-KomshianG., KavanaughJ., FergusonC.A., eds. Child Phonology.Vol. 1. Production. New York: Academic Press;1980.
Stoel-GammonC.. Role of babbling and phonology in early linguistic development. In: WetherbyA.M., WarrenS.F., ReichleJ., eds. Transitions in Prelinguistic Communication.Baltimore: Paul H Brookes;1998a.
29.
Stoel-GammonC.. Sounds and words in early language acquisition: the relationship between lexical and phonological development. In: PaulR., ed. Exploring the Speech-Language Connection.Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes;1998b.
30.
Stoel-GammonC., CooperJ.A.. Patterns of early lexical and phonological development.J Child Lang.1984; II: 247–271.
31.
Trost-CardamoneJ.. Speech in the first year of life: a perspective on early acquisition. In: KernahanD.A., RosensteinS.W., eds. Cleft Lip and Palate: A System of Management.Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins;1990.
32.
VihmanM., FergusonC.A., ElbertM.. Phonological development from babbling to speech: common tendencies and individual differences.Appl Psycholinguist.1987; 7: 3–40.
33.
VihmanM.M., MackenM.A., MillerR., SimmonsH., MillerJ.. From babbling to speech: a re-assessment of the continuity issue.Language.1985; 61: 397–445.
34.
WintersJ.C., HurwitzD.J.. Presurgical orthopedics in the surgical management of unilateral cleft lip and palate.Plast Reconstr Surg.1995; 95: 755–764.
