Early communication skills in children born with cleft palate
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Early communication skills of children born with cleft palate with or without cleft lip compared with the early communication skills of typically developing children.
IRAS ID
278106
Contact name
Hannah Lane
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 4 days
Research summary
It has been reported that cleft children have lower comprehension and expressive language skills than children born without cleft (Jocelyn et al, 1996). Some reports, looking at non-cleft individuals, suggest that early difficulties with communication may persist and lead to problems in later childhood (Bates et al, 1979; Eadie et al, 2010). If this is also true for children born with CP+/-L we can identify those who show difficulties in the acquisition of early language skills and therefore may be at greater risk of having long-term difficulties with speech and language.
The aim of this project is to investigate whether the early communication skills of children born with CP+/-L differ from typically developing children and if so, how.
This project will use existing questionnaire data from a large cohort study (Cleft Collective Birth Cohort). It will use the 18 month questionnaire and will gather information about the child's communication skills and behaviours as reported by mothers. This will then be compared to the communication behaviours of typically developing children using standardised normative data which is available from the test manual of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ).
This project will then compare early communication skills between different cleft types (bilateral/unilateral/cleft lip only) and will also consider key variables that may cause variation in the early communication skills of children with cleft palate (e.g. timing of palate surgery, parental SocioEconomic-Status (SES), English as an Additional Language (EAL) and presence of a syndrome).
REC name
West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/WM/0308
Date of REC Opinion
24 Nov 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion