SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – Parents of children
born with cleft lip or palate can play an important
role in helping their child develop normal speech
patterns if they participate in specific home-based
learning activities.
That finding was reported last week by Dr. Nancy
Scherer, chair/professor of communicative disorders
at East Tennessee State University, during the
annual American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
convention in San Diego.
Through a grant from the Plastic Surgery
Foundation of America and the Smile Train
Initiative, Scherer piloted a home-based
intervention program designed for parents of
toddlers with cleft lip or palate. The project
involved families in the Tri-Cities region and in
Atlanta.
Parents of children 12-36 months of age were
trained to model words and given various books,
materials, and toys that can be used to develop
activities with their youngsters at home. These
techniques have been proven to help other children
with language delays.
“The role of the parent is pivotal,”
Scherer said. “Though the project lasted only
three months, we saw phenomenal and promising
results. Children in the study had increased their
vocabulary and the production of sounds.”
In addition, Scherer said there was a reduction in
“compensatory sounds” among these kids.
Unique to children with cleft, compensatory sounds
are produced in the larynx (voice box) and are a
difficult problem to overcome once they are
established.
“The fact that this program can prevent the
production of compensatory sounds is promising news
in itself,” she said. “Young children
with cleft palate show delays in vocabulary and
sound production and often create compensatory
sounds, and this program addresses all three of
those problems.”
Parents of all education and socioeconomic levels
were able to learn and implement the techniques,
the study also found. Scherer said that the
home-based program was used as the sole means of
therapy and in conjunction with the child seeing a
speech-language pathologist.
The project is currently undergoing some revisions
and is also being used to train clinicians and
community health personnel working with children in
developing countries such as India.
Scherer is continuing to evaluate patients with
cleft lip and palate at the ETSU
Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic, which is an
affiliation of the College of Public and Allied
Health. For more information, call (423)
439-4355.
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