Cleft Care at Home
Comprehensive cleft care does not only happen at your local Smile Train partner treatment center. It is so important for children and caretakers to have access to resources related to their cleft care at home.
9 Reasons to Smile
This activity book is filled with creative art projects and engaging family games that help people explore their emotions, their relationships, and their world—even while at home. It can be used as a printed booklet or as a guide on a phone to draw and play at home. It is available in many languages—please use, share, and send pictures or videos using it at home at info@smiletrain.org.
Speech Home Practice & Parent Resources
Smile Train’s Speech Resource Library includes fun home practice activities such as games, books, and videos, as well as valuable parent and caregiver educational materials. You and your family may use these materials to practice your child’s speech skills at home, learn about cleft speech strategies, and gain a better understanding of speech therapy principles. Many of these materials were developed by our Smile Train partners across the world, as well as by Dr. Catherine Crowley, a member of Smile Train’s Global Medical Advisory Board and founder of Leaders Project at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Smile Train's Speech App
Smile Train has developed a free, interactive application (IOS and Android) to enable children with cleft palates to practice their speech on a phone or tablet. The app involves digital stories and games that target sounds that are usually challenging for children with cleft palates. It also has notes and video tutorials to help caregivers understand what is happening with their child’s speech and how to help them overcome their speech challenges. For more information and instructions on how to download the app, visit the Smile Train speech app.
Telehealth
Where available, Smile Train offers support to partners to provide general counseling, feeding and nutrition guidance and/or speech services through technology such as WhatsApp, Zoom or Facebook (depending on local norms and regulations). This is extremely important for families who cannot travel to receive care due to distance, cost and/or other travel restrictions. Telehealth services offer a way for families to receive tailored information and feel supported, even if they cannot physically visit a cleft team. Please reach out to partners in your region to learn which ones have these services available.
Student Lesson Plans and Activities
Smile Sessions is a learning series that engages elementary school students in topics related to Smile Train and cleft care. The goal is to give families affected by cleft the tools to build awareness and support to the classroom. Each session features an important theme and focuses on Smile Train’s programs in a specific country. These 20-minute lessons begin with background information, continue to a discussion on making connections, and close with an interactive activity. All video sessions are also accompanied by a lesson plan and PowerPoint presentation.
Smile Train Quiz
Make yourself smile by taking this Smile Train Quiz with your family. With a variety of smile- and cleft-related questions, this is a quiz that everyone can participate in! Access the quiz.
Fill in the Smile Train Blanks
Learn about Osawa Oswiti, Smile Train’s one-millionth patient who traveled from his small town to the capital of Tanzania in order to receive his life-changing cleft lip surgery. Afterward, put your memory to the test and complete a Fill in the Blanks worksheet about Osawa's story.