Intelligibility in 3-Year-Olds With Cleft Lip and/or Palate Using the Intelligibility in Context Scale: Findings from the Cleft Collective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE

To provide comparison data on the Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS) for a sample of 3-year-old English-speaking children born with any cleft type.

DESIGN

Questionnaire data from the Cleft Collective Cohort Study were used. Descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out to determine difference according to children's cleft type and syndromic status.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 412 children born with cleft lip and/or palate whose mothers had completed the ICS when their child was 3 years old.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Mothers' rating of their children's intelligibility using the ICS.

RESULTS

The average ICS score for the total sample was 3.75 (sometimes-usually intelligible; standard deviation [SD] = 0.76, 95% CIs = 3.68-3.83) of a possible score of 5 (always intelligible). Children's speech was reported to be most intelligible to their mothers (mean = 4.33, SD = 0.61, 95% CIs = 4.27-4.39) and least intelligible to strangers (mean = 3.36, SD = 1.00, 95% CIs = 3.26-3.45). There was strong evidence (P < .001) for a difference in intelligibility between children with cleft lip only (n = 104, mean = 4.13, SD = 0.62, 95% CIs = 4.01-4.25) and children with any form of cleft palate (n = 308, mean = 3.63, SD = 0.76, 95% CIs = 3.52-3.71). Children born with cleft palate with or without cleft lip and an identified syndrome were rated as less intelligible (n = 63, mean = 3.28, SD = 0.85, 95% CIs = 3.06-3.49) compared to children who did not have a syndrome (n = 245, mean = 3.72, SD = 0.71, 95% CIs = 3.63-3.81).

CONCLUSIONS

These results provide preliminary comparative data for clinical services using the outcome measures recommended by the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement.