THE SPEECH SOUND ERRORS AND LITERACY SKILLS IN CHILDREN WITH OROFACIAL CLEFTS

Objective: To investigate the speech sound errors and literacy skills in children with orofacial clefts (cleft palate& cleft lip and palate). Study Design: Comparative cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Centre for Clinical Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, from Mar 2016 to Feb 2017. Methodology: A sample of 42 participants (cleft lip & palate: n=18 and cleft palate: n=24) was collected. Two stage sampling strategy was used. Each child was individually screened through Slosson intelligence test revised checklist of orofacial cleft and diagnostic statistical Manual-V checklist. Then children were provided with assessment measures which included demographic informational questionnaire, community developed VPI Screener, word list for articulation and phonological processes, annual status of education report (ASER) and curriculum-based measurement (Written Expression). Manual SODA (substitution, omission, distortion and addition) analysis was done to know about the type of speech sound errors. Results: Independent sample t-test was used to compare the differences of speech sound errors (52.11 ± 25.08), (47.29 ± 25.38), reading skills (3.67 ± 1.14), (3.75 ± 1.26) and writing skills (14.61 ± 13.49), (25.14 ± 29.16) in cleft lip & palate and cleft palate respectively, indicated that there were no differences; with p-value: p=0.54, 0.83, 0.13. Conclusion: Results indicated no significant differences in speech sound errors, reading, writing skills and resonance between children with cleft lip & palate and cleft palate.