Exploring the current babble intervention for children with cleft V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the impact of babble training for caregivers of children born with cleft palate.
IRAS ID
360071
Contact name
Hannah Lane
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
A cleft palate happens when the roof of a baby’s mouth does not fully close before birth, leaving a gap. The palate is important for making certain sounds, so a cleft can affect speech.
Babbling—repeating sounds like “mama” or “baba”—is an important early stage of learning to talk. It helps children practise the sounds needed for speech. A cleft palate can make it harder for children to produce these early sounds, even after surgery. This can impact on how they communicate, learn, and build relationships.
Some NHS centres in the UK offer ‘babble training’ for caregivers of children with cleft palate. This training shows caregivers how to support babble during everyday interactions. However, there is no standard approach, and little evidence on how well it works.
This research will investigate how babble training is provided in the UK and how useful it is for children and families. It has three parts:
1. A survey and focus groups with Speech and Language Therapists in all 16 UK Cleft Centres will explore how babble training is currently provided.
2. Recordings of 13-month-old children with cleft palate will be used to compare speech development between children whose caregivers received babble training and those whose caregivers did not.
3. Interviews with caregivers who have received babble training will explore their views and experiences.The results will help develop new guidance for NHS cleft services and support future research on early interventions for children with cleft palate. Findings will be shared with families and NHS teams, published in open-access journals, and presented at conferences. Families and members of the public will be involved to ensure the research is meaningful and accessible.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/YH/0029
Date of REC Opinion
26 Mar 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion