Abstract
Patients diagnosed as congenital velopharyngeal incompetence (CVPI), including so-called submucous cleft palate, frequently exhibit mental retardation besides articulation disorders with hypernasality and cardic anomalies. However, there have been relatively few reports dealing with specific relationships between the facial malformities and learning impairments accompanying CVPI.
The subjects of this report werel5 patien ts ranging in the age from 4 years 2 months to 12 years 5 months who had been diagnosed as CVIP by examinations of the velopharyngeal form, velopharyngeal closure and facial characteristics according to our diagnostic criterion.18 cleft lip and palate (CLP) patients ranging in the ages from 4 years 5 months to 13 years 2 months served as the control group, and all were administered the WPPSI or WISCR, the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) and the Developmental Test of Visual Perception (DTVP). The patients were divied into groupes following classification on the basis of velopharyngeal form, the tried noted by Calnan, characteristics of the face. The results of the psychological tests of each groupe were then compared with one another.
The results show that the typical facial group achieved lower scores significantly than the non-typical facial group and the CLP group at a.01 level of conficence. Regarding the velopharyngeal form, the type II group in which the length of the soft palate and the depth of the pharynx are disproportional to normal, achieved lower scores than other groups. Regarding Calnan's triad, the patients in the 0-1 triad group produced lower scores than other groups. It was clarified that intellectual impairment was most significantly related to characteristics of the face and velopharyngeal form, but not so much related to the Calnan's triad. These ovservations together with the results of our previous study relating to the velopharyngeal and facial formations associated with CVPI suggest that one independent syndrome exists, whichi includes CVPI, typical facial characteristics and mental retardation.
