This advice-column-style blog for SLPs was authored by Pam Marshalla from 2006 to 2015, the archives of which can be explored here. Use the extensive keywords list found in the right-hand column (on mobile: at the bottom of the page) to browse specific topics, or use the search feature to locate specific words or phrases throughout the entire blog.
Prespeech and Cleft Palate
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I work with infants and often reference the developmental material you present in Apraxia Uncovered. I have a little fellow with an unrepaired cleft palate. He is doing all the skills prior to raspberries and none after. Should I stimulate the raspberries with him? Are raspberries possible with an unrepaired cleft? How much intraoral pressure is needed for them?
I have not worked with babies like this, so I don’t really know the answer to any of your questions. I would be stimulating the raspberries with him, however, just because they are on the normal developmental path. But I would be doing it only to experiment with them to see what happens and to see if they help move him forward, not because I would know what will happen.
hI!!! i HAVE A SON WITH A CLEFT ALREADY REPAIRED….It is okey to practice raspberries…but as you know he still has surgery pending so his mouth is going to experience dramatic changes after it…prior to surgery I advise you to promote language development overall and wait for activities that he cannot really do…although you can try if he does not get too frustrated because organically he cannot do it…most children with a cleft have a slower language development rate….in fact my son did not start speech therapy till after his clef was repaired.
Therapy Techniques for Cleft Palate Speech & Related Disorders by Karen J. Golding-Kushner is a great resource for babies with repaired and unrepaired cleft.