Spelling processes of children with nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or palate : a preliminary study

Karen Shi Mei Lee, Selena Ee-Li Young, Susan Jane Rickard Liow, Alison Anne Purcell

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective: To compare the cognitive-linguistic processes underlying spelling performance of children with cleft lip and/or palate with those of typically developing children. Design: An assessment battery including tests of hearing, articulation, verbal short-term and working memory, and phonological awareness, as well as word and nonword spelling, was administered to both groups. Participants: A total of 15 children with nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or palate were casematched by age and sex to 15 typically developing children. The children were aged between 6 and 8 years and were bilingual, with English the dominant language. Results: Wilcoxon signed-rank tests revealed that the performance of children with cleft lip and/or palate was significantly poorer on phoneme deletion and nonword spelling (P < .05) compared with typically developing children. Spearman correlation analyses revealed different relationships between the cognitive-linguistic and spelling measures for the cleft lip and/or palate and typically developing groups. Conclusions: Children with cleft lip and/or palate underachieve in phonological awareness and spelling skills. To facilitate early intervention for literacy problems, speech-language pathologists should routinely assess the cognitive-linguistic processing of children with cleft lip and/or palate, especially phonological awareness, as part of their case management protocols.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)70-81
Number of pages12
JournalCleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal
Volume52
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

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