The following paper was accepted for publication today. The paper was based on collaborative work undertaken during my Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Professor Visiting Fellowship to University of Bristol, UK. Congratulations to Amy Davies who lead the paper.
Davies, A., Seifert, M., Southby, L., Harding, S., McLeod, S., & Wren, Y. (2026, in press August). It’s not just speech: Association between intelligibility, language and communication skills in children born with cleft palate +/- lip. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.
Here is the abstract
Purpose: Children born with cleft palate, with or without cleft lip (CP+/-L), are more likely to demonstrate problems with intelligibility. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between language and communication skills and intelligibility in 3-year-old children born with CP+/-L using questionnaire data from mothers of 674 children in a longitudinal prospective cohort study.
Method: A Kruskal-Wallis test was used to explore differences in intelligibility (Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS)) between categories of children’s language and communication skills (communication domain of the Ages and Stages-3 questionnaire (ASQ-3)). Associations were further explored using Tobit regression analyses adjusting for confounders cleft subtype, syndromic status, Robin sequence, biological sex, socio-economic status and child’s age.
Results: The Kruskal-Wallis test showed strong evidence (χ2(2) = 131.7, p < .001) to suggest a difference in average ICS score between the three ASQ-3 categories of further assessment needed, monitoring needed and on schedule. The fully adjusted model suggested children who were categorised as needing to be monitored would score 0.69 points lower on the average ICS score compared to their peers who were “on schedule” (β= -0.69; 95%CIs= -0.98, -0.41; p < .001). Average ICS score was estimated to reduce by approximately 1.14 points for children needing further assessment compared to children who were on schedule (β= -1.14; 95%CIs= -1.36, -0.92; p < .001).
Conclusions: Language and communication skills in children born with CP+/-L are associated with their intelligibility. Variability amongst individual children is likely. A multiple-risk model should be considered when planning interventions for children whose intelligibility is below expectations.
