Page hero image

Improving Outcomes for Children with Cleft Palate Projects

Current projects

Validating an automated speech analysis tool for children with cleft lip and/or palate

This project examines speech patterns in 3- to 5-year-old children with and without cleft palate to identify speech acceptability and hypernasality patterns. One study goal is validating AI algorithms for future use.

Intervention research in South Korea

Adapting an early intervention for toddlers and parents in South Korea funded by the Institute of Social Science Research at ASU.

Improving communication outcomes for children with cleft palate in rural India

This project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, develops an eHealth intervention for speech acceptability and hypernasality to be used by community health workers in rural India.

Effects of enhanced milieu teaching with phonological emphasis (EMT+PE) on the speech and language outcomes of children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: Pilot study

This project examines trainings for parents of children with 22Q deletion syndrome, a syndrome as common as Down syndrome, which includes speech, language and developmental delays.

Slovak profiles of early expressive phonology for children with cleft palate

In this project, we are working to develop an early phonological assessment for very young children with cleft palate. Phonology is the study of the pattern and expression of sounds in language. This study takes place in Slovakia.

Articulation and phonological errors in 3-5 year old typically developing children on the American English Phrase samples.

This is a thesis project by one of our students to analyze speech errors in a part of the Americleft Speech Protocol (used by cleft palate teams in the U.S.).

Past projects

Early intervention for children with cleft palate in Brazil

Fogarty Institute project to assess the efficacy of an early intervention for toddlers in Brazil.

Objectively quantifying speech characteristics of children with cleft palate

A project to develop an automated speech analysis system for children 5 to 7 years of age with cleft palate.

Development of the profiles in early expressive phonology for children with cleft palate in Brazilian Portuguese

Development of an early speech measure for very young children with cleft palate in Brazil.

Speech production errors in children with cleft palate

A project focused on examining speech production samples from children aged 4 to 7 with cleft palate. Results showed the presence of developmental speech errors as the most significant pattern of errors in cleft-related errors.

Enhanced milieu training with phonological emphasis (EMT+PE): A pilot telepractice parent training study

Adaptation of an early intervention for the telepractice in training parents to implement an early speech and language intervention.

Telepractice parent training study for facilitating speech development in preschool children with cleft palate

A study to evaluate the effectiveness of parent training in early intervention for children with cleft palate.

Student involvement

Students with an interest in this population can get involved with the team to learn project management, speech and language transcription, and preparation of presentations. Undergraduate students in speech and hearing science can elect honors thesis and Advanced Research Experience (ARES) projects with ongoing or past project data.

Interested students should contact one of the co-leads listed above.

Community partners

  • Phoenix Children’s Hospital Cleft Craniofacial Center (Kelly Cordero, PhD, Jessica Williams, MS, Jennifer Phelps, MS, Elizabeth Alvarez-Montoya, MS, Thomas Sitzman, MD)
  • Hallym University, Seoul South Korea (Seunghee Ha, PhD)
  • University of Sao Paulo, Bauru Brazil (Inge Trindade, PhD, Renata Yamashita)
  • Boys Town National Research Hospital (Hope Lancaster, Ph.D.)
  • University of Utah (Kari Lien, Ph.D.)
  • University of Maryland (Veronica Yang, Ph.D.)
  • Florida International University (Chelsea Sommers, Ph.D.)