Neda Tahmasebifard, an assistant professor in the speech and language pathology department at Saint Mary’s College, will soon begin using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study cleft lip and palate in children.
Tahmasebifard noted that cleft lip and palate results in “abnormalities and [a] gap in the lip and in the roof of the mouth. This abnormality causes several problems, such as [during] feeding, speech and hearing.”
According to Tahmasebifard, most children with this condition require surgery.
“[They] cannot talk very well ... and the surgeon needs to close their lip and the muscles in the roof of the mouth.”
Tahmasebifard is currently working on research to collect normative data on muscles in children that involve speech for those with and without cleft lip and palate. She hopes this research can provide more information to support better surgical outcomes.
“The features of this muscle [are] different according to the sex, race and age ... and so [is] our database, so we can provide information for the surgeon,” Tahmasebifard said.
According to Tahmasebifard, her experience witnessing children affected by clef lip and palate in Iran inspired her research.
“When I was in my country, I was a speech language pathologist and coordinator of the cleft lip palate team in my hometown ... I saw the [suffering] of the children that have had a cleft lip palate ... Their self-esteem and confidence in the class and in the school was very low because of the cleft palate, because they cannot talk very well,” she said.
Tahmasebifard works with one undergraduate student on this research question. For her other research project, she has one undergraduate and four graduate students.
“I’m working on two research questions. One of them is evaluating feeding knowledge and feeding confidence of a speech language pathologist regarding the feeding of babies with cleft. For this one specifically, five students helped me,” Tahmasebifard said.
Tahmasebifard shared that using MRI to do research in this area is “very new.” However, Tahmasebifard knows six others researching this condition with MRI technology in the United States. Tahmasebifard plans to use the MRI at Saint Joseph Health System in South Bend, with necessary support.
According to Tahmasebifard, working with subjects has been a challenge to her research. To help familiarize the children with the technology and nature of the experiment, she uses materials such as coloring books.
“Working with children, it’s somehow difficult, maybe sometimes children [are] afraid of the MRI machine because it has lots of noise and loud noise ... We actually have a coloring book, and children can actually paint and color the images and MRI images. By this way, they actually understand better,” Tahmasebifard said.
Tahmasebifard noted there are further areas which could be researched, including the efficacy of surgery and feeding.
“In general, I think that there are lots of gaps in the fields of cleft lip and palate, and we need to cover that,” Tahmasebifard said.
Tahmasebifard shared that increased involvement in research on the condition will improve society, along with children’s speech and feeding.
“If I participate in some study, maybe it does not have a direct impact on me, but the information I can provide for the researchers can impact positively on other populations,” she said.
Tahmasebifard hopes the outcome of her research will “improve the efficacy of the surgery in patients with cleft lip and palate and consequently improve their speech.”
