口蓋裂60症例の構音訓練成積

抄録

Systematic articulation training was performed on 60 cleft palate patients, 25 cases in a younger age group (3 years and 10 months old to 10 years old) and 35 cases in an older age group (16 years old to 33 years old) . Results were summarized as follows
(1) Twenty three cases of the younger age group and 19 of the older age group achieved “normal” or “near-normal” speech.
(2) A longer period of training was required for the patients with more glottal stop sounds to reach normal or near-normal speech. In the younger age group, normal speech was reached within 6 months for the patients with fewer glottal stop sounds, and within 18 months for the cases with more glottal stop sounds. In the older age group, normal or near-normal speech was reached within 9 months for the patients with fewer glottal stop sounds, and within 24 months for most of the cases with more glottal stop sounds.
(3) The progress in the training of isolated syllables and words showed no difference between the older and the younger age groups. While a longer time was required in some cases of the older age group for the training of sentences and conversation.
(4) In the younger age group, all the cases could easily achieve “normal” speech after reaching the near-normal level. In the older age group, on the other hand, no progress was attained from the near-normal level in half of the cases.
(5) The most serious problem in the older age group was that nearly half of the patients stopped training halfway for various reasons.
(6) Various conditions were noted which influence the results of articulation training. These were : velopharyngeal closure ; age ; existence of other disorders ; motivation of the patient ; and cooperation of the family and other related persons.