Speech, language and hearing in Moebius syndrome: a study of 22 patients.

A comprehensive profile of communicative disorders in patients with Moebius syndrome was attempted. Seven patients were evaluated by the authors and the findings were added to 15 contributed case-histories. Most patients demonstrated some degree of dysarthria due to congenital paralysis of the facial nerves. Other problems such as cleft palate, hearing loss, mental retardation and delayed development of language were found in a few of the patients. As most of the older children in the sample and in reports in the literature eventually developed intelligible speech, a program of oral language stimulation and compensatory articulatory adjustments would appear to be the procedure of choice.