Attitudes and Concerns of Parents of <= span style=3D'font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Cleft Palate Chi= ldren about Speech Problems and Therapy

Ra’ed Al-Sadhan, BDS, MS, Dip= lom Amer Board of Oral & Maxillofacial Radiol*

Ibrahim Al-Motlaq, BDS,= DScD **

Jon Kapala, BS, = DMD, MScD, FACD ***

Pakistan Oral & Dental Journal, 28 (1), 2008

* Assistant Professor, Department of Maxillofacial Surgery and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia= .

** Consultant Pediatric Dentist, Security Forces Hospital Program, Riyadh, Sa= udi Arabia

*** Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston University, USA

Abstract

Aim: The = purpose of the study was to investigate: 1-The attitudes and concerns of patients = with cleft palate (CP) and their parents toward speech problems and therapy 2-T= he impact of speech problems on the patient’s life.

Subjects and Meth= ods: This study was conducted in the= cleft palate unit of Montréal Children’s Hospital, Canada. A questionnaire was used to collect the data on CP patients and their parents’ attitudes and concerns about speech problems and therapy.

Results: Subjects of this study were di= vided into two groups; patients who have not had speech problem (group 1 =3D 26 subjects, 70%) and patients who have had speech problems (group 2 =3D 11 subjects, 30%). The majority (91%) of the parents in group 2 noticed the s= peech problem of their child when they were ≤3 years. In half of these patients, the speech therapy started when they were 3 years old. The major= ity of speech therapy was long-term and conducted by a speech-language patholo= gist with some parental involvement. More than half of group 2 thought that the scho= ol teacher reacted in a positive way to their speech problem and most had not= been teased due to their speech problem. About 63% thought their speech problem= had a minor effect on their school results. The low teasing rate was reflected= by the high confidence level of this group, 82% denied that they have less confidence level because of their speech problem.

Conclusions: Our results suggested the parent's had positive perception about the role of day care and school in improving the speech. Unlike most of previous reports, patients with only CP showed low risk of developing prob= lems with confidence level, teasing, and peer relationships. In addition they s= howed normal school achievement.