Diagnosis and Management of Velopharyngeal Dysfunction.

Velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) describes any condition whereby the velopharyngeal valve does not properly close during the production of oral sounds. VPD contains multiple causes, including velopharyngeal mislearning (nasopharyngeal sound substitution for an oral sound), velopharyngeal incompetence (neurolophysiologic dysfunction causing poor pharyngeal movement), and velopharyngeal insufficiency (a structural or anatomic defect prevents velopharyngeal closure). Evaluation for VPD is best performed within the context of a multidisciplinary team and consists of history and physical examination, perceptual speech evaluation, and instrumental assessment of speech with either video nasoendoscopy or multiview speech fluoroscopy.