Abstract

TABAQUIM, Maria de Lourdes Merighi; VILELA, Laiza Oliveira  and  BENATI, Évelyn Raquel. Cognitive abilities and previous competencies for reading and writing learning in preschoolers with cleft palate. Rev. psicopedag. [online]. 2016, vol.33, n.100, pp. 28-36. ISSN 0103-8486.

In Brazilian population, about 1: 650 live births are affected by cleft lip and palate (CLP), craniofacial malformation that results from multifactorial conditions, genetic and environmental character. As human development stems from mutual influences between cognitive, emotional and body, a change in any of them can reflect on others. This study aimed to characterize the cognitive performance of children with cleft lip and palate in pre literacy phase. The specific objectives were: to relate cognitive performance with the intellectual level; classify levels of auditory and visual perceptual maturity, body scheme, spatial and temporal orientation and oral language (listening skills, phonological awareness and oral expression). For this, we assessed 25 children with cleft lip and palate, five to six years and eleven months, through the following instruments: Test R 2; and review from battery pre skills for early reading and writing - BACLE. The results showed that 92% of the evaluated group, despite having a good intellectual performance, demonstrated difficulties in specific areas of development, especially in auditory perception and language, corroborating findings of national and international literature and indicating the correlation that, as better cognitive performance, the better the ability of mental representation of oneself. The study, based on the evidence, concluded that children with cleft lip and palate have gaps in cognitive functions that are fundamental to the field of reading and writing skills, with risk for low academic performance in these activities.

Keywords : Cleft lip; Cleft palate; Child development; Cognition.

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