Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery Medknow Publications on behalf of Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery ISSN: 0970-0358 EISSN: 1998-376x Vol. 40, Num. 2, 2007, pp. 121-121

Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery, Vol. 40, No. 2, July-December, 2007, pp. 121

Invited Comment

The use of Sanskrit, an ancient language, as a tool to evaluate cleft palate speech problems

Watson A.C.H

Former Consultant Royal Hospital for Sick Children Edinburgh and South East Scotland Regional Plastic Unit; Former Editor, BJPS; Former President, BAPS
Correspondence Address:Former Consultant Royal Hospital for Sick Children Edinburgh and South East Scotland Regional Plastic Unit; Former Editor, BJPS; Former President, BAPS

Code Number: pl07040

It is difficult for someone who is neither a speech and language therapist nor familiar with the Sanskrit script to comment authoritatively on this unusual paper. However, as a surgeon with a longstanding interest in the management of cleft palate, I can confirm the vital importance of working together with an experienced speech and language therapist. The authors are correct in stating that few surgeons are capable of making an informed decision on the management of speech problems, even when based on a therapist′s report. Indeed we are mere amateurs when it comes to analysing cleft palate speech, and we therefore have to act on the advice of our expert colleagues when it comes to a decision on whether therapy alone or combined with surgery or surgery alone will be the optimal treatment. Would it not be wonderful if we surgeons had a simple way of better understanding individual speech defects so that we could make more informed contributions to discussions on management? After all, we do not like to act as mere technicians.

Whether or not the use of the Sanskrit script will be the tool that will allow those surgeons who are familiar with it to gain a better understanding of cleft palate speech problems I am not qualified to say, but the authors are persuasive enough to make me think that it is worth trying. One alternative might be to use a tool that was developed in the UK. This is the Cleft Audit Protocol for Speech (CAPS), which was designed to allow the whole cleft team to understand the speech and language therapist′s findings. ^[1] It would be interesting to learn the views of its authors on this paper.

References

Copyright 2007 - Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery