Exploring language profiles with a focus on pragmatic skills in children with orofacial clefts

This study explored language profiles in a sample of Norwegian children born with orofacial cleft. A total of 38 children, median age 71 months, were assessed by the Children's Communication Checklist Second Edition. Altogether 36.8% was identified with language impairment. The results showed that the group mean was lower than the normative mean on all pragmatic subscales as well as on the composite score, indicating that impaired pragmatic skills are common in children with OFC. However, great variability was found within the group with individual results ranging from severely impaired to well above the normative mean. No gender-based differences were found in pragmatic skills. The CLO group obtained better scores than the CPO and CLP groups. However, this difference did not reach statistical significance. Considering the importance of pragmatic language skills for children's academic performance and social well-being, assessing pragmatics to guide interventions should be a priority for clinicians.