Speech Therapy for Children with Cleft Lip and Palate Using a Community-Based Speech Therapy Model with Speech Assistants.

OBJECTIVE

Evaluate the speech services using a Community-Based Speech Therapy model by trained speech assistants (SAs) on the improvement of articulation in cleft palate children.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: Seventeen children with repaired cleft palates who lived in Chiang Rai and Phayao provinces were registered to the camp. They received speech therapy with a 4-day intensive camp and five follow-up camps at Chiang Rai's The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). Eight speech assistants (SAs) were trained to correct articulation errors with specific modeling by the speech-language pathologists (SLPs). SAs encouraged family members to stimulate their children every day with speech exercise at home. Each camp was covered with a main speech therapy and others supported by the multidisciplinary team, as well as, discussion among SLPs, SAs and the care givers for feedback or difficulties.

RESULTS

Results showed a sufficient method for treating persistent speech disorders associated with cleft palate. Perceptual analyses presented significant improvement of misarticulation sounds both word and sentence levels after speech camp (mean difference = 1.5, 95% confidence interval = 0.5-2.5, p-value <0.01; mean difference = 2.5, 95% confidence interval = 1-3, p-value <0.001, respectively).

CONCLUSION

The Community-Based Speech Therapy model is a valid and efficient method for providing speech therapy in cleft palate children.