Foreign-born 5-year-old children with cleft palate had poorer speech outcomes than their native-born peers

Abstract

Aim: Speech difficulties are common in children with cleft palate, but research on foreign-born children is limited. This study aimed to compare speech outcomes, surgery and speech intervention in 5-year-old foreign-born and Swedish-born children with cleft palate with or without cleft lip.

Methods: This retrospective study analysed data from the Swedish cleft lip and palate registry for children born between 2009 and 2016 using Pearson's Chi-squared test and binary logistic regression.

Results: Among 160 foreign-born (106 boys, 54 girls) and 847 Swedish-born (479 boys, 368 girls) 5-year-olds, foreign-born children had significantly lower rates of sufficient velopharyngeal competence (77% vs. 86%), age-appropriate consonant production (28% vs. 60%), and speech without non-oral speech errors (70% vs. 86%). Differences remained after adjustment for cleft type, gender and additional diagnosed conditions. After further adjustments for age at completed primary palatal surgery, differences in age-appropriate consonant production and speech without non-oral speech errors remained significant. Foreign-born children underwent completed primary palatal surgery at older ages and received more secondary palatal surgery and speech intervention than Swedish-born peers.

Conclusion: Foreign-born children showed poorer speech outcomes than Swedish-born peers, despite more secondary palatal surgery and speech intervention. Age at completed primary palatal surgery could partly explain these differences.

Keywords: cleft lip and palate; foreign‐born; internationally adopted; speech; surgery.