Customer Reviews

Therapy Techniques for Cleft Palate Speech and Related Disorders

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I'm a Mom of a 4-month old baby with a cleft. I also have a M.S. in speech-pathology. (What are the odds?) :) I found this book to be really helpful, because while I attended one of the leading institutions for graduate school, we only had 1 class on Craniofacial Disorders, most of which focused on diagnosis and not on how to do therapy with people with cleft. If you're a therapist reading this review, then you'll appreciate this book for the easy-to-recognize discussion of all aspects of speech, how articulation and VPI both may be affected with the presence of cleft (many folks think it's just hypernasality and nasal emission, when actually artic can become a big factor). This is just one example. The book highlights the importance of early intervention, even when surgery to correct the cleft hasn't been done, citing the importance of learning appropriate behaviors for speech, even in the absence of "normal" anatomy. (Therapy after surgery, then, can be much more successful, and kiddos aren't learning inappropriate compensatory strategies in the meantime.) There are chapters for doing therapy with all ages, including what kinds of things you can do with an infant who is not yet speaking. That was great for my family. If you're a PARENT of a child with cleft, there may be some things that don't readily make sense (sideview diagrams of the oral cavity during production of different speech targets), but most of the book is still going to be an excellent resource. It will teach you the logic of the TYPES of speech issues that can accompany speech with cleft, how these can develop and why they might develop, what you can expect, and what you can help do about it. I am a big believer in the more you learn, the more an advocate you become for your own child. And the more a part of the therapy "team" you become. Instead of just "taking your child to see the therapist", you become the "at home therapist" who can read, understand, ask questions, and implement good at-home behaviors that can help make a few weekly hours of professional therapy stretch beyond the walls of the "office", and into the child's everyday environment. Finally, if you're a new parent of a child with a cleft, please feel free to write me. There are few parents that were easy for me to talk to when my baby was born with this issue. Feeding is difficult in the beginning and it can feel scary and foreign, and far from the breastfeeding and closeness that you were imagining, especially if food is coming out the nose like it was for us, etc. It was a really vulnerable time for me and my family and therefore, I'd like to give other new parents someone to talk to who understands what you're going through and can maybe help with some ideas. You can write me at sternsmk@hotmail.com or mparker@plato.com :)Meredith

As a mother with a child who has a cleft palate, I was absolutely thrilled with this book. I have recommended it as a "must read" to all the parents of children with cleft palates that I know and to our healthcare professionals. It answered all the questions I have had, but could never find answers to, about my child's developing speech and how to manage his care. It contains easy to follow, useable techniques for improving speech production that are simple to apply and yield unbelievably fast results. Some of the topics of interest to me include: the basic mechanics of speech production, how to encourage early speech, how to recognize all the different types of cleft palate speech errors and how and when to correct them, how to make the most of Early Intervention and school district provided services, and, most importantly, specific exercises to encourage production of new sounds. The speech pathologist we work with, while excellent, does not have extensive experience in cleft palate speech. This book enabled her to design an exercise program tailored to my child's current needs and we plan to use it as a guide for each step of his speech development. After reading it I feel confident that I can actively and intelligently participate in my child's therapy.

This book gave our therapist a clear set of instructions for working with my daughter, who has VPI and a submucus cleft palate. Using these techniques, after over a year of traditional therapy, within six months of three sessions a week this therapist had my daughter saying most of her sounds. It gave my baby her voice so she could tell me with words what she had, up until then, been telling me with gestures and tone of voice.

If your child has any leakage of air into his or her nose when speaking, this book is a must read. Read it yourself and pass it to your speech therapist. My daughter is now in a position where they can evaluate what, if any, surgical intervention will help with her speech.

This book is simply the definitive volume on the implementation for speech therapy in individuals with cleft palate, hypernasal speech, and genetic syndromes that result in these conditions with particular emphasis on velo-cardio-facial syndrome. This book was a collaborative effort supported by The Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome Educational Foundation, an organization committed to spreading state-of-the-art knowledge to both professionals and lay people. The techniques described are so cutting edge that many who would apply more traditional (and less effective) speech therapy procedures will probably feel threatened. The price of this volume is small compared the potential thousands of dollars that might otherwise be wasted on ineffective procedures. Speaking from a position of over 30 years of experience in this field, I could not be more thrilled that this volume has reached print. It is a stupendous achievement.

This resource has a variety of valuable information for working with children with VPI or a cleft palate. It covers from birth through childhood. A must for clinicians who work with this type of population.

This book is a great resource for therapist's working with cleft palate, and VPI. It is not designed to be a resource for parents, but a functional guide to provide therapy that works. What therapist isn't looking to make progress? This book makes even the most difficult clients make progress. It is a wonderful book.

The material in this book is very easy to comprehend. It can benefit both parents and professionals.

I purchased this book because it was highly recommended by the Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome (VCFS) Foundation. I was told that it was "the bible" for helping develop speech in VCFS kids. There were only a few pages on VCFS and the thrust of those pages was an argument against the use of sign. On a personal level I am the mother of a VCFS child, and am acquanted with 100's of other VCFS parents, nearly all of whom use sign WITH GREAT SUCCESS with our children.

I would not recommend this book to anyone who is a layperson in speech pathology. I would not recommend it to anyone who has a child that is non verbal as a result of anything other than a cleft palate. The book only appropriate for Speech Language Pathologists or Developmental Pediatricians. I can't imagine anyone else finding it helpful. For that matter our Speech Language Pathologist didn't find it helpful either.