The ocurrence of speech and oral motricity disorders in patients with cleft lip/palate

Abstract

The key point of this research was to investigate what changes of speech and oral motility often appear in patients with cleft lip/palate through the speech evaluation protocols in patients from the “Núcleo de Atenção Médica Integrada / NAMI” of UNIFOR, between 1997 and 2002. Forty-four protocols were studied, eighteen from the female gender, and twenty-six from the male gender. All of them revealed some disorder related to hyper nasality, glottal stops and/or nasal snore, emission of pharyngeal fricative consonant, distortions, exchanges and/or omissions principally of the phonemes: /k – g – s – z – t – d – p – b/, and noise trace substitution. It was also observed: nasal air escape; lips, tongue and/or cheeks mobility and/or tonicity disorders, as well as inadequate tongue position and compensations. This study still revealed bifid uvula and fistula in the palate’s posterior region. The research showed the speech and oral motility disorders often presented in patients with cleft lip/palate, and also the major importance of the speech pathology inserted in the inter disciplined team.