Children with
cleft palate often suffer from hearing, speech, and language
articulation disorders. In order to design an efficient rehabilitation program for children thus affected, it is mandatory to acquire knowledge of the long term results achieved by the various therapeutical strategies including velopharyngoplasty and
speech therapy. In this follow-up study 417 children with
cleft palate (excluding isolated
cleft lip) were examined in an interdisciplinary approach by maxillofacial surgeons, orthodontists, otolaryngologists, audiologists, and speech and language pathologists. The examinations determined that 93% of the children had speech or
language disorders and 80% of these children suffered from mild to severe
conductive hearing loss with or without clinical signs of
otitis media with effusion. In 58 children (14%) with
rhinolalia aperta, which had not been improved after one year of
speech therapy, velopharyngoplasty with a cranial based pharyngeal flap was performed. The study showed that language skills do not correlate to the type of
cleft palate, but rather to the frequency and degree of
hearing loss. Using an interdisciplinary approach in early detection and the prompt clinical correction of
cleft palate disorders resulted in only 49% of the affected children having to undergo speech and
language therapy. In 51% of the affected children no
speech therapy was necessary at all. The results presented in this study lead to the conclusion that our program for managing the rehabilitation of children with
cleft palate is efficient.