Booklet Summaries
Cleft Surgery
Help with Hearing
Your Baby’s First Year
Toddlers and Preschoolers
The School-Aged Child
As You Get Older
Information for Adults
Feeding Your Baby
Genetics and You
Treatment Options for Better Speech
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Cleft Surgery
2001, 8 pages
This full-color brochure provides general information about the primary cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries for infants. Complete with drawings explaining the surgical procedures and before and after photos, this brochure addresses general considerations about surgery, post-operative care, and a list of questions to ask your surgeon.
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Help with Hearing
2002, 9 pages
This booklet provides information on types of hearing loss, middle ear disease and its treatment, and speech concerns resulting from hearing problems.
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Your Baby’s First Year
2010, 24 pages
This booklet provides a basic explanation of cleft lip and palate and an overview of the care that a baby born with a cleft requires. The booklet introduces the concept of a cleft palate/craniofacial treatment team, and presents information on feeding, hearing testing, care of the ears, speech development, dental care, and a brief discussion of what to expect at the time of surgery. It also includes a small section on sources of support for parents. The booklet concludes with a glossary of the terms that parents will most likely hear and see in the first year of their child’s life.
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Toddlers and Preschoolers
2011, 17 pages
This booklet provides information regarding medical and dental issues that commonly arise in toddlers and preschoolers affected by clefts. There are also sections on speech and language development and psychosocial development.
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The School-Aged Child
1995, 29 pages
This booklet is divided into two sections, one addressing the medical concerns of a school-aged child born with a cleft and the other providing information about the school experience for these children. The medical section contains information about surgery, dental care, and speech, providing simple diagrams of how the speech mechanism may be affected by a cleft palate. The section entitled “Making School a Good Experience” features information on hearing, potential learning disabilities, and social skills. The booklet concludes with a letter from a teacher about having a child with a cleft in the class. (Note: This letter has been adapted into a separate factsheet called Letter to a Teacher, available elsewhere on this website.)
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As You Get Older
2002, 17 pages
This brochure describes medical treatment and social skills that may be necessary for teens born with clefts. There are sections on surgery, braces, speech, and ear/nose/throat concerns, as well as on social relationships and planning for the future. The booklet concludes with three essays written by teens.
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Information for Adults
2000, 25 pages
This booklet is designed to empower adults to make informed decisions about what additional treatment, if any, they want to seek out in relation to their clefts. It offers information on surgical, dental, hearing, and speech options, as well as psychosocial perspectives from an adult man and woman who were born with clefts. It also includes advice on dealing with insurance companies.
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Feeding Your Baby
1999, 15 pages
This booklet provides detailed instructions for feeding a newborn with cleft lip and/or palate. Starting with a discussion of the importance of the feeding experience for both parent and child, it goes on to explain why an infant with a cleft may have problems with feeding and what expectations parents may have for infant feeding habits. Recommendations about feeding positions, timing, and supplies are offered, with drawings and ordering information for the various bottles which are manufactured or can be adapted for babies with clefts. The booklet also includes some basic advice for mothers who are interested in breastfeeding and a brief discussion of post-operative feeding protocol. It concludes with a timetable for the introduction of solid foods into the baby’s diet.
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Genetics and You
2001, 11 pages
This booklet contains a brief overview of genetic biology and a summary of what is known about the causes of clefting. It features a graph for affected individuals, parents, and siblings, showing each group’s approximate chances of having a child with a cleft. The booklet also details the steps involved in a genetic evaluation, which can help a family to determine its own particular recurrence risks. (The information presented in this booklet is only applicable to patients with isolated cleft lip and/or palate, not for patients with clefts that occur as part of a syndrome.)
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Treatment Options for Better Speech
2004, 10 pages
This brochure describes additional procedures that may be needed to improve speech in people with repaired cleft palate. It explains surgical procedures including palate lengthening, pharyngeal flap, sphincter pharyngoplasty, and pharyngeal wall augmentation. Non-surgical prosthetic treatments are also described. (This information is most relevant to patients ages 4 to adult.)
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Last Updated: May 31, 2011