Current clinical practices in the assessment of velopharyngeal closure.

A questionnaire designed to survey methods of assessing velopharyngeal closure and the extent of training and experience in velopharyngeal assessment was distributed to 256 randomly selected American Cleft Palate Association members. There was a 50% response rate and 94% of those responding were associated with cleft palate teams. Findings included the following: (1) the respondents rely primarily upon the use of listener judgments of spontaneous speech samples, phonological analysis, and lateral view cine/videofluoroscopy; (2) the majority spend thirty minutes or less on an average diagnostic evaluation of velopharyngeal competency; and (3) 45% feel that they are inadequately trained in assessment of velopharyngeal closure.