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Receptive and expressive language characteristics of school‐aged children with non‐syndromic cleft lip and/or palate
Author(s) -
Boyce Jessica O.,
Kilpatrick Nicky,
Reilly Sheena,
Da Costa Annette,
Morgan Angela T.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of language and communication disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.101
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1460-6984
pISSN - 1368-2822
DOI - 10.1111/1460-6984.12406
Subject(s) - psychology , expressive language , receptive language , wechsler adult intelligence scale , language development , developmental psychology , audiology , cognition , medicine , vocabulary , psychiatry , linguistics , philosophy
Background Research investigating language skills in school‐aged children with non‐syndromic cleft lip and/or palate is sparse. Past studies focus on younger populations, lack key comparisons to demographically matched control cohorts or explore language as a component of broader academic skills. Trends of existing studies suggest that affected children may perform at a lower level compared with typically developing peers. Aims To examine the receptive and expressive language skills of middle‐school‐aged children with non‐syndromic cleft lip and palate (CLP) and cleft palate only (CP). Additionally, to explore the language skills of children with clefts compared with a non‐cleft control group. Methods & Procedures Thirty‐seven participants with orofacial clefts (aged 7;1–14;1 years) participated in the study: 19 with CLP (10 males; 9 females) and 18 with CP (8 males; 10 females). A non‐cleft comparison group consisted of 129 individuals matched on age, sex and maternal education level. Participants completed formal language (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Fourth Edition) and non‐verbal intellectual measurements (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence—WASI). Demographic and developmental information was obtained via parental interview. Further clinical details (e.g., surgery; hearing status) were extracted from patient medical files. Cleft and non‐cleft language and non‐verbal IQ outcomes were reported separately. Language outcomes were then compared between groups. Outcomes & Results Participants with clefts achieved core (mean = 103.31, standard deviation (SD) = 10.31), receptive (mean = 102.51, SD = 11.60) and expressive (mean = 102.89, SD = 12.17) language index scores within the normative average range. A total of 14.1% and 17.8% of the cleft and non‐cleft groups respectively had impairment (i.e., ≥ 1.25 SD below the mean) in one or more language domains. No significant differences were found in the three language index scores between cleft and non‐cleft groups. Conclusions & Implications This study is the first formally to examine language skills alongside non‐verbal IQ in school‐aged children with clefts compared with a large matched non‐cleft population. Results suggest that health professionals should evaluate each child as they present and not assume that a child with non‐syndromic CLP or CP will also have co‐occurring language difficulties. Where language falls in the average range, these skills can be harnessed to support areas of difficulty often associated with orofacial clefting, such as speech.