Our son was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP) and has been in speech therapy since he was 18 months of age. I value private speech therapy and we are faithful in keeping our weekly appointments, incorporating speech techniques at home to gain consistency and working on a great deal of repetition. It’s just that at this point we have now added orthodontic appointments to our ‘have to’ weekly list and he has a palatal expander and…
As with any child you are going to worry about their development, but especially so when your child is already facing challenges due to their being cleft affected. Your child’s hearing is going to be another ongoing aspect of care you are going to need to be diligent about, which is why an ENT is an integral part of your Cleft Palate Team. Our son showed signs of hearing loss as early as 2 mos. of age when we first…
Probiotics have been incorporated into my family’s daily regimen and defense of our immune systems. I first became seriously interested in probiotics after my cleft affected son suffered from chronic ear infections and was on antibiotics more than he was off of them in the first few years of his life. His pediatrician brought to our attention that our son might begin experiencing GI (gastrointestinal) issues due to his gut flora being wiped out time and time again. Again, I…
As part of our son’s growth and progress, reading is yet another challenge we are working towards overcoming. The first step has been to find an Education Specialist for reading therapy. His first grade teacher called us in for our parent/teacher conference and what we already knew was confirmed. He was struggling with his reading. This should not have come as a complete shock but hearing the difficulties he was having and knowing that I did not personally have the…
As your child grows and begins to babble you will notice that it is going to be slightly more difficult for them to form the words you and I are used to hearing. This is going to cause a great deal of frustration both on your part and your child’s because they are not going to be able to express themselves in quite the way that they want to. You may experience anxiety of your own because you simply…
