Prevalence of Oral Reading Problems in Thai Students with Cleft Palate, Grades 3-5.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate prevalence of oral reading problems in Thai language skills, and types of oral reading in students with cleft palate, Grades 3-5. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Thirty students with cleft palate, Grades 3-5 in the Northeast Thailand, were recruited. The students read the standard oral reading passages which are The Basic Education Commission of Thailand and consisted of basic words in curriculum of Thai language for students, Grades 1-3. Oral reading scores were analyzed based on the Basic Education Commission, Ministry of Education, Thailand. RESULTS: The research findings revealed that: 1) The prevalence of oral reading problems in the students with cleft palate, Grades 3-5 was 16.66%; 2) Cluster was the most common problem in oral reading based on Thai language skills, followed by tone, silent consonant, irregular final consonant, change vowel, topic of word, inherent vowel, regular final consonant and word without final consonant; and 3) Types of oral reading problems were classified as substitution (56.99%), omission (36.92%), addition (1.79%) and distortion (1.79%). CONCLUSION: Students with cleft palate, Grade 3-5 were at risk of oral reading difficulty.