High and Low Intensity Speech Intervention in Children With a Cleft Palate: Perceptions of Children, Their Caregivers and Speech-language Pathologists
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: High intensive combined phonetic-phonological intervention, Low intensive combined phonetic-phonological intervention.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Cleft Lip and Palate, Speech Disorders in Children. Basic parameters: 4 years — 12 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Belgium
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Overview
A cleft (lip and) palate (CP±L) is the most common congenital abnormality of the face and skull with a significant social impact, affecting speech, hearing, feeding, oral behavior, dentition and satisfaction with appearance. These consequences have a long-term and negative impact on social integration and well-being. The World Health Organization (WHO) highlights the significant financial costs, including morbidity, health care costs, emotional distress and social exclusion for patients, their families and society. The purpose of this study is to compare high- and low-intensity speech intervention in children with CP±L based on the perceptions of the providers of the intervention (primary care speech-language pathologists) and the recipients of the intervention (children with CP±L and their caregivers). Individual semi-structured interviews will be conducted with both intervention providers and recipients to explore perceptions and experiences, as well as acceptability of the two speech intervention intensities. Potential participants will be told that the interview will be recorded. The actual interviews will take place at a location and time that is most convenient for the participants. Each interview will be recorded using a Roland R-05 high-quality audio recorder. After conducting the interviews, all participants will be asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their demographics. In addition, data regarding the type of cleft, time and manner of closure of the cleft, any secondary surgery and otological/audiological data will be collected from the medical records of the children with CP±L. Based on this qualitative study, possible adjustments to the high-intensity therapy protocol can be made. In doing so, these modifications will be relevant to these key stakeholders. This will also facilitate the implementation and widespread use of high-intensity speech therapy in clinical speech therapy practice.
Interventions
- Behavioral High intensive combined phonetic-phonological intervention
High intensity speech intervention 5 times 30' per week for 2 times 4 weeks - Behavioral Low intensive combined phonetic-phonological intervention
low intensity speech intervention 2 times 30' per week for 20 weeks
Primary outcome measures
- Perceptions and acceptability of low/high intensive speech intervention [Time frame: 20 weeks]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Belgian Dutch-speaking children with a cleft palate with or without a cleft lip
- Aged between 4 and 12 years,
- Presence of at least one compensatory speech error in their speech based on the perceptual assessment of one experienced speech-language pathologist
Exclusion criteria
- Children with syndromic clefts
- Oronasal fistula
- Velopharyngeal insufficiency
- Hearing disabilities based on pure tone audiometry (>25 dB HL)
- Cognitive and/or related learning disabilities or neuromuscular disorders
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Observational model
- Case-only
Study locations
Belgium · 1 center
- Ghent University Hospital — Ghent
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06895395 · ONZ-2024-0191