Background
Functional speech restoration is one of the critical goals of cleft palate surgery. Rhinocleft®, based on the English language, is the speech assessment tool widely used in cleft services across Australasia. The Māori population in New Zealand has one of the highest rates of cleft palate worldwide. Yet, from an equity lens, there is no speech assessment tool tailored to children and whānau who choose to speak Te Reo Maori or are fluent bilingual speakers.
Methodology
Waikato Hospital has been developing a cleft speech assessment tool based on Te Reo Maori that is validated, culturally and linguistically appropriate in the context of Rhinocleft® assessment. The hospital Maori committee approved the project. The hospital and the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies, Waikato University, collaborated closely to develop this Māori companion tool for Rhinocleft®. This tool carefully selected Maori words and sentences to assess consonant sounds similarly found in English to evaluate tamariki on their production of plosives, nasals, and fricatives necessary for Rhinocleft®.
Result
The Te Reo Maori speech assessment offers two alternatives for the Rhinocleft paragraph and short sentences:
1. Rhinocleft Paragraph Sample vs Te Reo Maori alternative
The current Rhinocleft® uses a paragraph themed on 'Angry Uncle' to assess functional speech in reading sentences. The Te Reo Maori tool offers an alternative theme on 'Exploring the garden' that is more culturally appropriate
2. Rhinocleft Short Sentence Sample
For children unable to read, the tool offers a separate set of short sentence samples in Te Reo Maori that aligns with the original Rhinocleft® assessment.
Future
Validation is ongoing with non-cleft children fluent in Te Reo Maori taking the speech assessment by the cleft speech pathologists in Waikato Hospital and Middlemore Hospitals. Future verification will involve a sample of cleft children fluent in Te Reo Maori.