Articulation skills and oral-nasal resonance in children with pharyngeal flaps.

Longitudinal data on speech sound acquisition and oral-nasal balance were analyzed in 52 children who had had pharyngeal flaps for velopharyngeal incompetency. These data were compared to similar data for a group of 48 children with cleft palates who had not required secondary management. Comparisons were made also between the pre- and post surgical performance of the group who had had pharyngeal flaps. Further comparisons were made between children who had surgery before six years. Analysis of data revealed that the children who required pharyngeal flaps lagged behind the group who did not in the development of acceptable resonance and articulation patterns. Further analysis showed that, for the post-pharyngeal flap group, there was an acceleration in the acquisition of acceptable sound production in the year immediately following surgery. The data suggested that children who had flaps before six years of age made faster gains in the development of articulation and acceptable resonance than did children who were treated after the age of six years.