Development of word list in Malayalam for the evaluation of speech outcomes in children with cleft palate

• Published in: Journal of cleft lip palate and craniofacial anomalies Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 9 - 17
• Main Authors: Suresh, JS Swathi, Subrahmanian, Manju, Reni, Preethy Susan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2025; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Edition: 2
• Subjects: Children; Cleft palate; malayalam; Original Article; Patient outcomes; speech assessment; speech outcome; Speech therapists; test stimuli development; validation; United States; India; speech assessment; test stimuli development; Cleft palate; Malayalam; speech outcome; validation
• ISSN: 2348-2125; 2348-3644
• DOI: 10.4103/jclpca.jclpca_23_24

Background: Cleft lip and /or palate affects speech production skills. To enable uniformity in reporting the speech outcomes in individuals with cleft lip and/. or palate, universal parameters were formulated. Aim: To develop and validate test (word) stimuli in Malayalam, for the evaluation of speech outcomes (hypernasality, audible nasal air emission, and/or turbulence and consonant production errors) in children with cleft palate based on the guidelines reported by Henningsson et al. Materials and Method: The study was carried out in two phases. The first phase involved the development of the word list and content validation by parents, primary school teachers, and speech-language pathologists. The second phase involved establishing the construct validity of the word list by administering it to children with cleft lip and palate. Results: From the 351 words chosen from textbooks, storybooks, and picture books of children; 170 words had obtained a familiarity rating of greater than 80%. However, the word list desired to be used during clinical practice can be restricted to 44 words with 10 words representing high vowels, three words representing low/mid vowels, and 31 words representing pressure consonants. Conclusions: Developing test stimuli in the vernacular language, Malayalam for describing speech outcomes in children with cleft palate would aid in designing a customized management plan and effectively delivering it.