Lexical Selectivity of 2-Year-Old Children With and Without Repaired Cleft Palate Based on Parent Report.

OBJECTIVE

To determine vocabulary and lexical selectivity characteristics of children with and without repaired cleft palate at 24 months of age, based on parent report.

PARTICIPANTS

Forty-nine children with repaired cleft palate, with or without cleft lip (CP±L; 25 males; 21 cleft lip and palate, 28 CP only), 29 children with a history of otitis media (OM) and ventilation tubes (21 males), and 25 typically developing (TD) children (13 males).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Parent-reported expressive vocabulary was determined using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences.

RESULTS

Vocabulary size was reduced for children with repaired CP±L compared to children in the TD group (P = .025) but not the OM group (P = .403). Mean percentage of words beginning with sonorants did not differ across groups (P = .383). Vocabulary size predicted sonorant use for all groups (P = .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Children with repaired CP±L exhibit similar lexical selectivity relative to word initial sounds compared to noncleft TD and OM peers at 24 months of age, based on parent report.