Cleft Palate Articulation Treatment

Children with a cleft palate frequently have difficulty with articulation due to soft palate insufficiency, dental configuration, fistulas in the hard palate, mandible/maxilla displacement, and structural issues. Surgeries that begin close to birth can approximate normalized structures; if there is a habituated pattern of misarticulation developed before surgery, speech therapy may be necessary. Speech therapy to teach compensatory techniques for the current structural configuration is possible. Effective speech therapy maps goals to current structures and does not attempt to teach what a child's structures cannot support.