Föreläsningar och seminarier Doktorandseminarium gemensamt med Uppsala universitet
Exploring intelligibility in children born with cleft palate
Approximately 50% of children born with cleft palate with or without cleft lip (CP±L) are reported to have speech deviances in preschool or early school age. Reduced intelligibility is a common consequence and can limit the ability to communicate and influence the speaker’s participation. Intelligibility is therefore a central outcome measure in assessment of speech and included in speech therapy in children born with CP±L. A broad definition of intelligibility is not only dependent on the acoustic signal but also includes support from additional contextual clues and settings, and an often-stated benchmark is that children with typical development are expected to be fully intelligible for strangers around 4 years of age.
Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS) is a questionnaire filled out by parents’ ratings on a 1-5 Likert scale on how well the child is understood in 7 different social contexts and is a part of an international standard set for cleft lip and palate (International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement, ICHOM). For this study, approximately 500 questionnaires were collected at 5, 7, and 10 years on children born with CP±L. An ICS mean score will be calculated and compared to published reference data. Impact of age, sex and cleft type will be explored and information on intelligibility related to the separate contexts will be described. During the seminar, preliminary results will be presented.
The present study is a part of the doctoral project titled: Effect of treatment on speech in children born with cleft lip and palate.