A cleft palate is an opening or split in the roof of the mouth that occurs when the tissue doesn't fuse together during development in the womb. A child with a cleft palate may have trouble with: 1. Speech Sound Development 2. Velopharyngeal Incompetence 3. Hearing Loss Speech Sound Development: Speech sound development begins in infancy and continues through a child's seventh or eighth year. Children's speech generally gets easier to under as they get older.
Children born with a cleft palate may have a delay at the beginning of speech and development of speech sounds. In addition, children with a cleft palate may produce speech errors that are directly related to clefting. These are called compensatory speech errors Velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) is a general term. It is used to describe different disorders of the velopharyngeal valve. These include: Ø Velopharyngeal insufficiency…
