A submucous cleft palate may be hard to spot, because it is a cleft palate that’s hidden under the skin, or “mucosa” of the roof of the mouth.
What is a submucous cleft palate?
In a cleft palate, the muscles and skin tissue that make up the hard and soft palate don’t fuse together properly during embryological development. As a result, functional problems with speech and early feeding can occur.
What symptoms may my child with submucous cleft have?
Luckily, although submucous cleft palate can be difficult to spot to an untrained eye, there are fairly predictable patterns that we see that can help determine if we need to treat the submucous cleft.
Feeding problems—Specifically, problems with sucking. One of the earliest symptoms of submucous cleft palate that parents notice is difficulty with breast or bottle feeding.
Early signs of speech problems that may suggest your child has a submucous cleft palate
While some submucous cleft palates will never cause any signs of speech difficulty, some create as many problems as if the cleft were wide open.
Problems with high pressure consonants. In English, we have a number of consonants that require that we use our soft palate to seal our nose from our mouth.
I think my child has a submucous cleft palate—what happens next?
If you’ve noticed some of these speech or feeding symptoms, or had your current speech therapist point them out to you, it’s a good idea to have your child evaluated by a therapist who specializes in cleft palate speech disorders.
Perceptual Assessment of Velopharyngeal Function for Speech. Perceptual Assessment is just a technical term meaning that the therapist will listen to your child while they talk to them!
When is surgery recommended for submucous cleft palate?
Surgery is often recommended after the team has determined that 1) a submucous palate exists, 2) it is having a negative impact on speech that can only be corrected with surgery.
Conclusion
Often, if your child has any articulation errors, these will still need to be treated with regular speech therapy even after the surgery has taken place.