Periconceptional folic acid associated with an increased risk of oral clefts relative to non-folate related malformations in the Northern Netherlands: a population based case-control study.

Periconceptional folic acid has been associated with a reduced risk of neural tube defects, but findings on its effect in oral clefts are largely inconclusive. This case-control study assesses the effects of periconceptional folic acid on cleft risk, using complementary data from the Dutch Oral Cleft Registry and a population-based birth defects registry (Eurocat) of children and foetuses born in the Northern Netherlands between 1997 and 2009. Cases were live-born infants with non-syndromic clefts (n = 367) and controls were infants or foetuses with chromosomal/syndromal (n = 924) or non-folate related anomalies (n = 2,021).

Measuring speech sound development: an item response model approach.

Research Aim: The primary aim of our study is to investigate if there is an ordering in the speech sound development of children aged 3-6, similar to the ordering in general language development.

Method: The speech sound development of 1035 children was tested with a revised version of Logo-Articulation Assessment. The data were analyzed with the Mokken Scale Program (MSP) in order to construct scales with satisfactory scalability (H-coefficient) and sufficient reliability (rho).

Age of diagnosis and evaluation of consequences of submucous cleft palate.

Objectives: To evaluate the frequency of submucous cleft palate (SMCP) in a group of children with clefts. The reason for suspecting submucous cleft, age of diagnosis, effect of age on speech development, problems in speech, hearing and swallowing were compared with previous literature.

Methods: Retrospective chart review: Out of 33 patients with SMCP, registered by the Groninger cleft team over approximately 20 years (1990 until July 2012), 28 non-syndromic patients with a proven diagnosis of SMCP were included: 17 males and 11 females.

Limited evidence for the effect of presurgical nasoalveolar molding in unilateral cleft on nasal symmetry: a call for unified research.

Background: In the past two decades, presurgical nasoalveolar molding has been applied increasingly in the care of patients with a cleft to improve nasal symmetry and facilitate closure of the lip and secondary rhinoplasty. Many cleft centers do not apply presurgical molding, because its effect is disputed. This review aims to quantify the effect of nasal symmetry in the long term.

Phonetic and phonemic acquisition: normative data in English and Dutch speech sound development.

Objective: Comparison of normative data in English and Dutch speech sound development in young children. Research questions were: Which normative data are present concerning speech sound development in children between two and six years of age? In which way are the speech sounds examined? What are the differences and similarities between the development of speech sounds in different languages?

Methods: A literature study on the subject was performed to be able to answer the research questions.

Results: The presented normative English data showed that all vowels are present at three years of age, and most consonants (singletons) already at four years of age, except for/ʃ, ɹ, θ, ð/.

Nasometry cooperation in children 4-6 years of age.

Objective: Hypernasality is a common problem in cleft care. It should be treated before the age of six, because of the impact it can have on speech sound development in young children. An objective method of nasalance evaluation is nasometry.

Nasometry normative data for young Dutch children.

Objective: Hypernasality is a common problem in cleft care. It should be treated before the age of six, because of the impact it can have on speech sound development in young children. An objective method of nasalance evaluation is nasometry.

Behavioural problems in young children with language problems.

Objective: Analysis of behavioural problems in young children with language problems.

Materials And Methods: From 38 children diagnosed with a language problem, the opinion of the parents about the behaviour of their child, scored by the Child Behaviour Checklist 1.5-5 was compared with the behavioural problems in the Dutch population with the Chi-square test.

The discrepancy hypothesis in children with language disorders: does it work?

Objectives: Analysis of the relationship between verbal and nonverbal development in children with language problems.

Methods: From 134 children enrolled in a multidisciplinary diagnostic procedure in a speech and hearing clinic and diagnosed as having a language disorder, the language comprehension score (LCQ) and the nonverbal IQ score (SON-IQ) were compared. t-Tests were used to test whether the children's mean LCQ differs from their mean SON-IQ and to test whether the children with an inadequate LCQ differ from children with an adequate LCQ with respect to discrepancy.

Problems in speech sound production in young children. An inventory study of the opinions of speech therapists.

Objective: Analysis of examination procedure and diagnosis of articulation problems by speech therapists.

Study Design: Survey study.

Materials And Methods: Eighty-five Dutch speech therapists (23% response), working in private practises or involved in language screening procedures in Youth Health Care, were questioned regarding the incidence of articulation problems in their practices, the manner of examination, the normative data used, and the importance attached to identifying articulation problems.

Effect of different treatments in young children with language problems.

Objective: Analysis of the relationship between treatment and improvement on language scores in children with language problems.

Design: Observational longitudinal study.

Materials And Methods: 123 children between 2 and 5 years of age, diagnosed as having a language problem were followed for 1 year.

Communicative abilities in toddlers and in early school age children with cleft palate.

Objectives: Evaluation of improvement in communicative abilities in children with nonsyndromic cleft palate.

Methods: Longitudinal retrospective case history study. Out of 117 children with cleft lip and/or cleft palate born in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and enrolled in the cleft palate team of the University Medical Centre Groningen (UMCG), 63 children were included in the study; 29 (46%) boys and 34 (54%) girls.

Nasal growth and maturation age in adolescents: a systematic review.

Objective: To define the end of the nasofacial growth spurt in order to schedule rhinoseptoplasty in patients with cleft without disturbing nasofacial growth.

Data Sources: We searched the PubMed and Cochrane bibliographic databases from inception through December 31, 2007, using the primary indexing term facial growth with the confining search terms growth AND (face OR nose) AND (cephalometry OR anthropometry). The reference lists of the retrieved articles were searched for missed relevant studies.

Speech and language development in toddlers with and without cleft palate.

Objective: The effect of early palate closure on speech and language development in children with cleft palate.

Design: Comparative study.

Setting: University Medical Center Groningen, Cleft Palate Team (The Netherlands).

Satisfaction with treatment outcome in bilateral cleft lip and palate patients.

The aim of this case-controlled study was to assess satisfaction with facial appearance and function, and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in bilateral cleft lip and palate patients (BCLP). The study sample was composed of adult BCLP subjects and controls matched for age, gender and socioeconomic status. Outcome measures included a self-administered questionnaire evaluating satisfaction with facial appearance, function and HRQL.

Children with language problems in a speech and hearing clinic: background variables and extent of language problems.

Objective: Analysis of a clinical population referred for language analysis in terms of background variables and extent of language problems.

Design: Descriptive study.

Materials And Methods: Children referred to a speech and hearing clinic because of assumed language problems were analyzed with standardized tests for language comprehension (Dutch version of the Reynell Developmental Comprehension Scale) and language production (Schlichting test for sentence development).

Global developmental delay in guanidionacetate methyltransferase deficiency: differences in formal testing and clinical observation.

Guanidinoacetate N-methyltransferase (GAMT) deficiency is a defect in the biosynthesis of creatine (Cr). So far, reports have not focused on the description of developmental abilities in this disorder. Here, we present the result of formal testing of developmental abilities in a GAMT-deficient patient.

The ordering of milestones in language development for children from 1 to 6 years of age.

Purpose: To scale language milestones in a group of 527 children to provide an instrument for screening language development. Procedure The questionnaire regarding these milestones was completed by parental report. It was evaluated whether the scaled milestones satisfied the assumptions of the Mokken item response model.

Language disorders in young children: when is speech therapy recommended?

Objective: Analysis of treatment recommendation given by speech therapists. Evaluation of the language abilities in the examined children and re-examination of those abilities after 12 months.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-four children, aged between 2.

Does the interaction between maternal folate intake and the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphisms affect the risk of cleft lip with or without cleft palate?

Periconceptional folic acid supplementation may reduce the risk of cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL(P)). Polymorphisms in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene reduce availability of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, the predominant circulating form of folate. To determine the effect of MTHFR C677T and MTHFR A1298C genotypes and haplotypes on CL(P) risk and the interaction with maternal periconceptional dietary folate and folic acid supplement intake, the authors conducted a case-control triad study in the Netherlands (1998-2000) among 179 CL(P) and 204 control families.

Specific language impairment in children with velocardiofacial syndrome: four case studies.

Objective: To describe specific language impairment in four children with velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS).

Design: A descriptive, retrospective study of four cases.

Setting: University Hospital Groningen, tertiary clinical care.

Short-term and long-term results of speech improvement after surgery for velopharyngeal insufficiency with pharyngeal flaps in patients younger and older than 6 years old: 10-year experience.

Velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) is a well-known cause for hypernasality. To overcome this problem, the authors use a static surgical technique: a cranially or caudally based flap. In 93 patients, the results of this technique on speech (hypernasality, nasal air escape, articulation) and velopharyngeal function were evaluated over a period of at least 1 year.

A 10-year review of perioperative complications in pharyngeal flap surgery.

A 10-year retrospective study was undertaken to investigate perioperative complications in pharyngeal flap surgery in one institution using inferiorly and superiorly based flaps. In this fashion the current practice of surgical technique based on local findings and perioperative care, through regular monitoring by experienced nurses on the ward, was evaluated for adequacy. The charts of 275 patients who had 287 pharyngeal flap procedures were studied.

Efficacy of speech therapy in children with language disorders: specific language impairment compared with language impairment in comorbidity with cognitive delay.

Objective: this article discusses the effect of speech therapy on language comprehension, language production and non-verbal functioning in two groups of children with developmental language disorders.

Design: retrospective study-a follow-up after a mean of 2 years.

Materials And Methods: verbal and non-verbal functioning before and after therapy were examined in 31 language-impaired children with normal hearing and good health.

Specific language impairments and behavioural problems.

The behavioural functioning of 56 children with a specific language impairment (SLI), aged 8, 10, and 12 years, was examined by using the Child Behaviour Checklist. Parents as well as teachers filled in the questionnaire. The data shows that 48% of the children with SLI were considered to have behavioural problems either at home or in school.