The purpose of this study was to compare early speech and language development of children with and without cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) in the US and Slovakia from 6 to 24 months of age. Thirty-two children from the US (eight with CLP and eight noncleft) and Slovakia (eight with CLP and eight noncleft) participated in this study. The children were videotaped at four time points for 30 minutes during mother-child interaction with play sets controlled for early-developing sounds in each language. Mean Babbling Level, consonant inventories, number of different words and mean length of utterance were calculated for 6-to 24-month samples. Results indicated that the US and Slovak groups showed similar performance across the ages. Cleft and noncleft groups showed significant differences in acquisition of all of the speech and language measures. High-pressure consonants, particularly alveolar place of articulation, were problematic for children with CLP.

Clefts of the lip and palate are one of the most frequently occurring birth defects, affecting approximately 1 in 700 births in the United States. Early childhood special educators are often among the first professionals to provide intervention for children with cleft lip and palate. Early intervention for children with clefts often focuses on speech production skills; however, results of recent research suggest that early intervention in language skills including parent training is warranted. A model of early intervention that uses language intervention to facilitate vocabulary and speech sound development is described. This model has been successful in improving productive vocabulary use and speech sound repertoires and shows promising reduction in compensatory articulation errors. Developmentally appropriate application of the model includes provision of direct intervention to children and parent training to promote naturalistic intervention in everyday settings. Strategies for working collaboratively with speech-language pathologists and members of cleft palate and craniofacial multidisciplinary teams are also described. Finally, answers are provided to frequently occurring questions from parents about cleft palate.

The reptilian clade Squamata is defined primarily by osteological synapomorphies, few of which are entirely unambiguous. Studies of developing squamate eggs have revealed a uniquely specialized feature not known to occur in any other amniotes. This feature—the yolk cleft/isolated yolk mass complex—lines the ventral hemisphere of the egg. During its formation, extraembryonic mesoderm penetrates the yolk and an exocoelom (the yolk cleft [YC]) forms in association with it, cutting off a thin segment of yolk (the “isolated yolk mass” [IYM]) from the main body of the yolk. The YC–IYM complex has been observed and described in more than 65 squamate species in 12 families. In viviparous species, it contributes to the “omphaloplacenta,” a type of yolk sac placenta unique to squamates. The only squamates known to lack the IYM are a few highly placentotrophic skinks with minuscule eggs, viviparous species in which it clearly has been lost. Given its absence in mammals, chelonians, crocodylians, and birds, the YC–IYM complex warrants recognition as a developmental synapomorphy of the squamate clade. As in extant viviparous lizards and snakes, the YC–IYM complex presumably contributed to the placenta of extinct viviparous squamates.

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