What is a key focus of therapy prior to palatal repair?

The key focus of therapy prior to palatal repair is on modeling vocal play activities for early speech sounds. This approach is essential as it lays the foundation for speech development in children with cleft palates. Prior to any surgical intervention, it is important to promote vocalizations that encourage the use of sounds that the child can produce, even with the physical challenges posed by the cleft.

Fostering vocal play allows children to engage in making sounds, experimenting with their voice, and developing oral-motor capabilities that will be crucial for speech production post-surgery. This stage of therapy emphasizes natural exploration and playfulness, which is fundamental in sparking interest in communication before more technical aspects of speech are addressed.

While other options like reinforcing speech sound production, expanding vocabulary, or teaching complex sentence structures are important elements of speech therapy, they typically come after foundational vocal play and sound experimentation have been established, especially in the context of managing the unique challenges presented by a cleft palate.