Talet hos femåriga barn med läpp-käk-gomspalt: En jämförelse mellan internationellt adopterade barn och svenskfödda barn

Abstract

This retrospective study aimed to examine differences at age five between twenty-six internationally adopted and twenty-six Swedish-born children with cleft lip and palate regarding age of surgery, speech and intervention. Correlation between age of surgery and speechvariables and gender differences was examined. Blind assessment of audio recorded sentence repetition or naming of words was performed by two speech pathologists. Soft palate was closed significantly later for the study group than the control group. Age at closure of hard palate did not differ. The study group had significantly higher prevalence of velopharyngeal incompetence and higher prevalence was noted among children who received surgery of soft palate after two years of age. Correlation between age at soft palate closure and variables related to velopharyngeal competence existed. No significant differences between groups existed regarding intervention. Larger difficulties in the study group indicate larger need for future treatment and a follow-up is of interest.