Children with cleft lip and palate commonly need speech therapy.
Speech production requires coordination of the tongue, hard and soft palate.
This coordination is achieved by the movement of the muscles within the tongue and soft palate. Children with cleft palate have an abnormal insertion and movement of the muscles within the soft palate. They may also have poor coordination of the tongue movements and its placement. This results in an abnormal speech requiring speech therapy. The speech pathologist on the Team will coordinate the speech therapy.