[in Japanese]

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C3H/HeN MTV⁺ mice and some other strains of mice are infected with MMTV (mouse-mammary-tumor-virus), and the transcription of this virus is significantly stimulated by glucocorticoid. So, this study was aimed to find out the role of MMTV in glucocorticoidinduced cleft palate in mice.
Findings are as follows:
1. C3H/HeN MTV⁺ mice were found to be more susceptible to glucocorticoid-induced cleft palate than C3H/HeN MTV^- mice which are free of MMTV.
2. C3H/HeN MTV^-, BALB/c and C57BL/10 mice, which were inoculated with MMTV from C3H/HeN MTV⁺ mice, were found to become susceptible to glucocorticoidinduced cleft palate.
3. MMTV was found to be able to influence susceptibility to glucocorticoid-induced cleft palate in mice.

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In order to clarify the frequency of occurrence and changes of various articulation disorders in cleft palate children, longitudinal observations were made of 31 postoperative cleft palate children who obtained adequate velopharyngeal function after early surgical repair of the palate.
The results are as follows;
1. Eighteen of 31 cases (58 %) showed misarticulations after early surgical repair. The frequency of the misarticulation was highest in palatalized misarticulation (PM), followed by glottal stop (GS), nasopharyngeal misarticulation (NM) and lateral misarticulation (LM).
2. In five of 18 cases misarticulation improved spontenously at the conversational level.
3. The percentage of spontenous improvement was higher in GS and NM than PM, but it was not observed in LM.
4. The age of occurrence of spontenous improvement varied depending on the kinds of misarticulations. The age of spontenous improvernen tin GS and NM was between 3: 0 (years: months) and 3: 6, and it was consistent with the age of obtaining adequate velopharyngeal function. That of PM and NM associated with PM was between 4: 6 and 5: 6.
5. Two different processes were observed for the subjects whose PM was improved spontenously. One process showed improvement from the consonant level which was acquired early in phonological development, and from the syllable level to the conversational level by stages. The other process showed the changes of the place of articulation from the tongue dorsum to the tongue tip in all consonants which showed PM at same time. Although the former cases showed the typical dynamic palatogram (DP) patterns of PM whereby the posterior portion of the tongue dorsum contacts the posterior border of the hard palate at the moment of maximum contact, the latter cases showed the DP patterns whereby the whole tongue dorsum contacts the whole hard palate.

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The newly developed chewing-gum to be tinged with red by mastication was examined to find out whether or not it would be usable for measuring masticatory performance.
The results were obtained as follows:
1. The mean chromatical value of a^* of this chewing-gum was hardly affected by pH of saliva and masticatory duration.
2. In subjects with normal occlusion, the correlation between the number of times of mastication and chromatical values of a^* was significant (r= 0.99) at the number of times of mastication ranging from 10 to 50 times.
3. The results with this method were significantly corresponding to the measurement of masticatory performance with ATP-G.
4. The chewing-gum in question can be claimed as one of the most instrumental methods, when it is applied clinically to the judgement of masticatory performance.

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Cleft Plate, a congenital malformation of the oral structures, is a condition associated with various disorders, including those of sucking, speech, and hearing as well as occlusion abnormality. Accordingly, a team approach involving many various specialists is indispensable. With regard to speech-language disorders consistent speech-language management by the speech-language pathologist is required from birth.
This speech-language management includes instruction and advice to the parents as well as evaluation of language development, voice, articulation, velopharyngeal function, hearing, etc. By regular instruction and evaluation, the stress of the parents is relieved and the cleft palate child can be raised in a normal language enviroment. In cases in which language development is delayed, its origin is ascertained, and the speech-language pathologist, in collaboration with specialists in the fields of medicine, education, and special education, offers guidance. With regard to articulation disorders the appropriateness of training as well as the age at which training is best commenced are determined. In cases of suspected velopharyngeal incompetence, age-appropriate tests in addition to evaluation of the spoken language are performed, providing the sugeon with valuable information. With this the surgeon is better able to decide on the feasibility of a second operation and its timing.
During the course of speech-language management, close cooperation with experts in other fields, inparticular with the surgeon, is imperative. In this country it cannot be said that sufficient speech-language management is provided from the preopertive peoriod onwards. It is hoped that henceforth efforts will be made to improve this situation.

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Since cleft palate speech is a disordered speech conditions composed of various factors associated with cleft palate, there is still no common agreement nor assessment criterion for the evaluation. In this paper, under the title “assessment of cleft palate speech” we discussed about clinical approach and some issues about it on assessment.
1. On speech and language, the focus was on the development of speech and language function and the conditions of articulation organs caused by cleft. The former is included speech comprehension and expression, articulation abilities, and voice qualities, and related data on examination items. The latter requires data for velopharyngeal function and oral conditions.
2. Following after articulation disorders, time of evaluation was considered. Our conclusion was that the first focus sould be placed on the appearance of plosive consonant around 2y6m, which could be a clue to some articulation disorders. By 3y6m, articulation disorders are observed. About 4 to 5 ys, whether or not the need of articulation therapy and related velopharyugeal function assessment are considered.

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Articulation disorders seen in cases of cleft palate include those due to velopharyngeal incompetence and those due to abnormalities of articulatory movement. In this latter group, glottal stop, pharyngeal fricative, pharyngeal stop, palatalized articulation, lateral articulation, and nasopharyngeal articulation are found, and articulation training is indicated. Since articulatory movement differs from normal, acquisition of correct sounds requires systematic articulation training. Training is indicated when no tendency to spontaneous cure is found or when there is some spontaneous cure but a secondary disturbance is also present, and also when the language development age of 4-5 years has been reached.
In the present study, systematic articulation training was carried out at the ENT Department of Tokyo University Hospital, and 137 cases, in whom use of normal sounds in daily conversation became possible, were investigated. The age at the beginning of training ranged from 3 years and 11 months to 41 years, with 70 % of cases under 6 years. The training period ranged from 1 month to 5 years, with training completed within 1 years in 61 % and within 1.5 years in 80 %. The training period of the 71 cases who began training at the age of 4-5 and completed it before entering school was, with the exception of 2 cases, less than 1.5 years. Cases in which training was prolonged were associated with high age at the beginning of training, a lot of training sounds, or mental retardation, but even in such cases, the majority improved after 2-3 years of training.
These results suggest that, although it is desirable that articulation training begin at the age of 4-5 years and be completed before entering school, even at higher ages articulation disorders are curable if systematic articulation training is continued.

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Children first begin to speak at the age of twelve months. The basis of speech, however, is established through mother-child interaction during infancy, and the breadth of such basis affects the over-all growth of the child.
While the mother cares for her child responding to the crying, freting, smiling and laughing of the infant, the child learns attachment, trust, and identification for his mother, and the mother learns affection and self-confidence in her care for the child. Normally, speech is one of the products which learned through imitation due to the secure affectional tie between mother and child during infancy.
Cleft palate children, however, despite having a cleft palate from birth and many problems accompanying such defect, basically learn speech and language in the same way as non-cleft children. As is the case with normal children, cleft palate children show good speech and language development and learn normal articulation, when strong attachment between parent and child and continuing psychological stability are present.
Two cases who couldn't learn normal articulation easily were reported. For optimum. speech and language development, the co-operative effort of a team of specialists in all re- lated diciplines was indispensable, in order to dispel the anxiety of parents and generally support the families.

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