Profiling the Roles and Responsibilities of Professionals and Non-Professionals Providing Speech Language Services for Individuals with CLP in Resource-Limited Regions

Fourteen Speech and Language Therapists/Pathologists (SLT/Ps) from 13 countries across 5 continents made up the International Confederation of Cleft Lip and Palate and Related Craniofacial Anomalies (ICCPCA) CLEFT 2022 Speech Taskforce. Following a group consensus activity led by an external facilitator using Lightning Design Thinking principles, “task-shifting” was identified as the topic for this Taskforce. Absence and scarcity of SLT/Ps in many parts of the world have led to non-SLT/Ps delivering speech and language therapy services to individuals with cleft lip +/− palate. This narrative is the first known attempt to develop a framework, describing the different types of providers and their scope of practice.