Mothers of children with cleft palate undergoing speech intervention change communicative interaction

Abstract Introduction: Natural learning must include language learning relationships that provide natural support for communication and language learning. Objective: To find out if including the mother as an active participant during speech therapy sessions would improve the communicative style and mode of the interaction of the mothers with their cleft palate children. Materials and methods: Fifty-nine children with cleft palate and their mothers were included in the study group. The patients were divided into two groups randomly. Patients received the same treatment. Twenty-eight of the children were included in the control group. They participated in small working groups comprising the speech pathologist and two children. Thirty-one of the children were included in the experimental group. In this case, the mothers of the children were also included as active participants. The mothers of the patients from the two groups were assessed at the beginning and end of the speech therapy period to find out their style and mode of interaction. Pre- and post-data of the mothers from both groups were compared. Results: Eighty-nine per cent of the mothers of the experimental group modified their patterns of interaction. In contrast, only 19% of the mothers of the control group modified their style and mode of interaction. A Fisher exact test demonstrated that the frequency of mothers from the experimental group that modified their style and mode of interaction was significantly greater as compared to the number of mothers from the control group that were able to modify their style and mode of interaction. Conclusions: Mothers of children with cleft palate and accompanying language delay modify their communicative style and mode of interaction through active participation in speech therapy.