Auditory and language skills in children with cleft lip and palate.

OBJECTIVES: to investigate auditory and language skills in children with repaired cleft lip and palate. METHODS: The sample was composed of 22 children registered at the hospital where the study was conducted, seven to nine years old, 50% being female, with repaired unilateral cleft lip and palate (right or left), without associated malformations. Auditory skills were assessed using four central auditory processing tests: Random Gap Detection Test, Dichotic Digit Test, Dichotic Non-Verbal Test, Sustained Auditory Attention Ability Test. Language performance was evaluated by four standardized instruments: Illinois Psycholinguistic Skills Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Token Test and Phonological Skills Profile. The association between auditory and language skills was evaluated by the Fisher exact test at a significance level of 5% (p<.05). RESULTS: The central auditory processing tests evidenced that only one child presented adequate performance in all skills analysed, five children presented impaired performance in all skills, and 16 exhibited deteriorations in one to three auditory skills, highlighting that temporal resolution was the most impaired skill (81%). Concerning language, three children presented adequate performance in all tests applied, and Visual Association and Auditory Association were the most impaired skills (40%). No association was observed between deteriorations in auditory and language skills. CONCLUSION: There was high occurrence of impairment of auditory skills, which compose the central auditory processing, as well as of language skills, with greatest impairment of receptive language.