I recently attended a course that covered a wide variety of information on the evaluation and treatment of children with cleft palate and/or craniofacial anomalies. This topic is of particular interest to me; I loved participating in craniofacial clinics and research in graduate school, and I now serve on a multidisciplinary cleft palate team here in Charlotte.
Clefts of the lip and palate are very common birth defects, but little is heard about them. Children with clefts may need speech therapy for a variety of reasons. They often need feeding therapy in infancy, and speech-language therapy in toddlerhood and early childhood. Cleft palate is associated with over 300 different genetic syndromes, which often cause developmental delays, including language delays. Even after surgical repair of the palate is complete, articulation therapy or voice therapy may be warranted.
Please contact a speech therapist if you have questions or concerns related to speech therapy for children with cleft palates. We will be glad to help!
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