One Size Does Not Fit All: Performance-specific Speech Therapy and Long-term Learning in Children With a Cleft Palate

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are investigating the best speech therapy approaches for children aged 4 to 12 years old who have a cleft palate with or without a cleft lip and show specific compensatory speech characteristics. The study aims to compare three types of speech therapy methods to find the most effective treatment for improving speech and quality of life in Belgian Dutch-speaking children. Additionally, the research looks at how well these speech improvements last over time and whether new speech skills transfer to other sounds. The trial compares three speech therapy methods: a motor-phonetic approach focusing on phoneme-by-phoneme articulation, a phonological approach emphasizing sound contrasts and self-monitoring, and a combined phonetic-phonological approach targeting multiple errors within meaningful language contexts. Children will receive one of these therapies tailored to their specific type of compensatory speech characteristic, categorized as anterior oral, posterior oral, or non-oral. Therapy progresses through defined steps depending on the approach and child performance. Participants will be assessed at multiple times: immediately before therapy, immediately after, and at 1, 3, and 6 months post-intervention. Assessments include measuring consonant proficiency, how understandable the child's speech is in context, and health-related quality of life. The study is randomized and double-blinded to compare effects fairly. The total participation duration includes therapy and follow-up assessments to evaluate both short-term and long-term learning and retention of speech improvements.

Effect of Performance-specific Cleft Speech Intervention and Long-term Learning in Children With a Cleft Palate