Mothers of cleft and noncleft palate children (C- and non C-mothers) listened to a reading by a cleft palate child of a passage containing specified combinations of nasality and intelligibility. Groups were either uninstructed or instructed to listed to the content or the manner of speech; they assessed the nasality and intelligibility of the speaker and were given an information test on the material heard. Results were that mothers under content instructions scored higher on the content test than mothers under different instructions; however, non C-mothers scored significantly higher than C-mothers. The content score varied with the severity of the speech problem; the accuracy of rating nasality did not vary. C- and non C-mothers did not differ in accuracy of rating intelligibility and estimating the percentage of words in error, when both were under manner instructions; but C-mothers under manner instructions were more accurate on both intelligibility measures, than such mothers instructed to listen to content. (Author/JD)