Taking these individual components of speech and language difficulties into account, particularly velopharyngeal incompetence, Edmonson and Reinbartsen (1998) claim that the most affected sounds are /p, b, t, d, s, tʃ /. It is common for these sounds to become distorted because correct production requires closure of the velopharyngeal port. In the study performed by Broen et al. (1998) in which they investigated the acquisition of linguistic and cognitive skills of children with cleft palate, they noted that inadequate velopharyngeal closure may interfere with expressive language skills and stated that "the child with an inadequate velopharyngeal mechanism is at a significant disadvantage in learning to produce accurate speech" (p. 685). However, they also concluded that this may be in part due to the feedback received from …show more content…
One of the objectives of cleft repair is to improve velopharyngeal functioning, but as pointed out by the Cleft Palate Foundation (2004), it is important to recognize that "Approximately 15 - 25% of children born with cleft …show more content…
Case history, oral peripheral exam and hearing screening are necessary components in the assessment process as each provides vital information regarding the child's medical and surgical history as well as current condition of oral structures and functioning of the ear. In addition to providing details regarding medical and surgical history, the case history will also alert the clinician to any previous treatment obtained and its effectiveness. The oral peripheral examination provides the opportunity for the clinician to assess the degree to which structural abnormalities affect the child's physical ability to manipulate the articulators. If a repair of the cleft has already been performed, the clinician should assess the adequacy of the repair (Pena-Brooks & Hegde,