You Talk Like a Monkey: Reflections on a Teacher's Personal Study of Growing Up with a Cleft Palate

Abstract

As teacher confidence in helping children with speech impairments is reported as being low, mainstream teachers may welcome the introduction of specialist speech therapist support in schools through the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services (NSF). This reflexive account is offered to develop awareness and understanding of the psycho-social effects of cleft palate and to encourage mainstream teachers and careers of young people who have speech difficulties and disorders to develop individual and classroom-based strategies that facilitate the young person's personal, social and emotional development alongside the parallel, more technical work of specialist speech therapists. This article reviews the literature related to the nature and treatment of cleft palates, parental coping, adolescent social development and adult coping. This is interwoven with personal stories from the life course of the author, a former teacher who herself has cleft palate speech. Current clinical focus is critiqued for being overly focused on the functional effects of speech disorder in childhood and this leaves a significant gap in the adolescent's social development and ill prepares them for the possibility of speech impairments persisting into adulthood. Some supportive factors are identified to facilitate and encourage cooperation between teachers and other professionals involved in the care and treatment of young people with cleft palates.