July is National Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness and Prevention Month!
According to the CDC (2015), approximately 2,600 babies are born with a cleft palate and 4,400 babies are born with a cleft lip, with or without a cleft palate. Other craniofacial birth defects include craniosynostosis (skull sutures fusing prematurely), anotia/microtia (ear is missing or underdeveloped), and anophthalmia/microphthalmia (missing or abnormally small eye) which require a specialized medical team to guide them during development.
A cleft lip and palate is a birth defect that results from underdeveloped structures (particularly the hard/soft palate and/or upper lip) during pregnancy. While the cause of cleft lip and other various craniofacial defects are mostly unknown, there have been links to genetics and other environmental factors. Often cleft lip/palate can be seen by the indication of an opening in the lip, or roof of the mouth, that may also extend across the hard palate to the child’s nasal cavity.
What are the concerns with a cleft lip or palate?
When a child is diagnosed with a craniofacial defect it can lead to deficits in the areas of feeding, swallowing, and speech development. A speech language pathologist (SLP) is one of the members of the care team that will assist your child with intervention and modifications to aid your child in their development. A team, often composed of a plastic surgeon, ENT, SLP, orthodontist,etc. will work together to correct the child’s diagnosed cleft/craniofacial defect and supporting personnel will assist with ensuring the child is developing appropriately.
What can a speech language pathologist do for a child with cleft lip or palate?
The speech language pathologist’s role is to assist and support the child as well as their family with education, strategies, and treatment to support growth and age-appropriate speech and feeding skills.
In terms of feeding, a child may have difficulties with navigating their oral motor musculature (i.e. tongue, lips, soft palate), chewing foods, and effectively swallowing during meals which can result in coughing/choking. A SLP can provide safe swallow strategies, oral motor exercises, desensitization, and food trials to ensure safety during meals.
In terms of speech production, a child can experience hyponasality (sounds congested), difficulties with voiceless vs voiced consonants (i.e. “map vs mab”), backed consonants (i.e. /k, g/), as well as poor overall intelligibility when attempting to communicate their wants and needs. A SLP can help with these issues by providing evidence-based treatment to increase intelligibility and correct speech sound errors that occur as a result of the child’s cleft palate and/or craniofacial abnormality.
Wondering if Speech Therapy would be apprioriate for your child? Start a conversation with your pediatirician or give our office a call to learn more!