cleft palate speech development

[Kate]

My daughter is 2years and 3 months old. She was operated on for a cleft of the soft palate at 9 months of age. She has a wonderful grasp of language, but there are some sounds she cannot yet make, for example, 't', 'd', 'b'. We have been advised that more surgery will probably be required (ortichochea, or modified ortichochea). If possible we want to avoid further surgery. Has anybody been through an experience where their child began making the full range of speech sounds in time, without having to go through more surgery. If so, what age could we expect to see improvement? Or, has anyone gone through this secondary surgery and what kind of results (immediate and longer term) have you seen?


I would very much appreciate any input on this to my e-mail address:
kate@vsnl.com

[""TO all parent]

I hope I can give you some ideas, as I was born with a (somewhat severe) bi-lateral cleft lip and palate, yet my speech is *perfect*. I do know that I had surgery on the soft palate as an infant and maybe another surgery on the hard palate, but only when I was 27 did I have a bone graft operation.


I did not always speak well, in fact, when I had the opportunity to listen to a cassette that my father made of me when I was 2, I could not understand a word! But things improved for the better, every year. In your post, you did not mention if you are bringing your daughter to speech therapy. This is most important. It will allow the child to learn how to compensate, and form words properly, even if all the biological components are not present nor perfect. (to all other parents: as soon as your child says "Mama", it is time to bring him / her to a speech therapist. It is not something to delay or avoid.) If you have not found a speech therapist,
seek for one that is part of the "cleft palate team". These professionals understand the nuances of the condition, whereas general speech therapists may not.


I don't know if speech therapy alone will help your daughter avoid the surgery you mentioned, but it may. Even if speech therapy is not to prevent surgery, it will help to prevent speaking problems later on in life. Good luck to you and your family.