Efficacy of Focused Stimulation in Early Language Intervention Program for Toddlers with Repaired Cleft Palate

Early language intervention is required soon after the surgery for children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) and extensive research has documented the usefulness of the same. The present study attempts to provide an insight on the efficacy of speech and language therapy using focused stimulation approach by involving mothers. The different parameters such as phonemic inventory and vocabulary of the toddlers were investigated before and after 20 sessions of speech and language therapy. Six toddlers with repaired cleft lip and palate between the age ranges of 2-3 years served as participants for the program. The speech and language baseline was established by measuring vowel, consonant inventory, proto-words and true words of the toddlers. Speech and language therapy was given for 20 sessions. Mothers were oriented and counseled for speech stimulation. A post-therapy measurement was done after 20 sessions to analyze the speech behaviors of the toddlers. A non-parametric test was carried out due to the small Sample size. Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was administered which highlighted that parameters such as the number of phonemes, vowels, consonants showed statistically significant difference (p≤0.05) between the pretest and posttest measures. Also phonemes such as high and mid vowels, bilabials and fricatives showed statistically significant difference (p≤0.05). The results indicated an improvement in the type and number of vowels, consonants and true words among the toddlers. There was also a reduction in the non-verbal behaviors in the toddlers post-therapy. The results highlight the importance of involving parents and efficacy of early language intervention program.