Giving Kids a Smile Like Yours In Colombia

Every kid born with cleft lip and palate is at risk of having talking problems. While the palate is open it´s impossible for the kid to pronounce certain sounds correctly, and it can not be operated before he or she is 9 or 10 months old; for this reason the first sounds made by them are already made from an altered anatomy. This might cause kids to develop some wrong engrams of the sounds and can even affect the normal development of the language itself. Besides when children with this condition see that they fail trying to be understood by others, they start to have rejection feelings toward language. In Fisulab we have a special prevention program created to prevent or minimize language alterations so it can be develop according to the normal chronological stages and if the residual alterations appear they can be handled properly. This programs take place monthly with groups of kids from a similar age, their caretakers and the professionals in charge. In each of this group, each kid is individually observed, and their interaction with their parents  as well, in order to give some guidelines and demonstrations on how the parents can be role models for their kids to improve their communication. The main goal is to  lead children into school without their language problems; this is not always possible, some children come to Fisulab when they are already at school, and even older, or grown ups, who had never have received any language therapy, therefore they already come with big problems in their communication, their academic development and their social skills. With this advanced cases in particular, we do some individual, virtual or face to face therapies to try to fix or improve their altered patterns.