Cleft Palate

Psychology Support

The Psychologist's Role in Caring for the Child with a Facial Cleft:

• Providing psychological support for the parents and for the child with cleft is important for family life.   
• Psychologists provides individual and family therapy. 
• Psychologist is an important and integral member of our cleft team

The psychologist's role includes assessing development and functioning across the lifespan. Typically, during infancy, new patients and their caregivers meet with the psychologist for an initial consultation. After this, the patient and caregivers meet with the psychologist at least once per year until adulthood, when they no longer use clinic services. Frequently, we encourage caregivers to follow-up more often with the psychologist, especially when the child is young and developing rapidly. This is to see if there are additional concerns, or when there are scheduled surgeries. 

Research: 

To enhance the quality of life of patients with cleft through collaborative research and action, the psychologist is actively involved in National Institutes of Health research studies assessing quality of life of children and adolescents with cleft lip and palate; and treatment outcomes for infants with cleft.

Child Psychology Support
Parent Psychology Support