A recent article published in The Hindu, India’s national newspaper, talks about the lack of psychological support for families of children with clefts, and the lack of support for the children themselves. The article titled, “Bring a smile to their faces” mentions Emily and this blog. The author of the article, Uma Sreedevi, was born with a cleft herself and contacted me prior to publishing the piece.
Uma quotes a surgeon in the piece who says that kids don’t need psychological support because they have “Perfect speech correction and facial appearance” by the age of 3 to 7. Um, huh?? I wonder if this is the prevalent view of surgeons or just this particular guy. Maybe he’s thinking in terms of clinical correction/appearance. No wonder there’s a lack of psychological support! I’m really glad the article brings the psychological issues to the forefront – too often the focus is on the medical issues – surgery, feeding problems, speech, etc., but the effects of a craniofacial condition such as a cleft go way beyond the physical problems.
In any case, I’m honored that she mentions me and Emily, and links to the blog. I do want to point out that the quote she uses in the article is not one that I wrote, but another mom – Patricia Bacon Smith – wrote that quote and allowed me to use it on Emily’s birth announcement.