Category: Cleft Palate

Another day at Yekatit 12 for cleft palate training.  We had another wonderful class/lecture in the morning featuring interactive role-playing between TC students and the rest of the class.  The TC students role-played as patients while the other students acted as clinicians.  Each “patient” was assigned specific cleft palate speech characteristics, and was instructed how to respond to treatment.  This exercise proved extremely helpful, and we all felt more confident and competent when working with our patients later that afternoon.

After lunch, a few of us were lucky enough to observe a cleft palate repair on a 19-year-old patient with a “syndromic cleft palate,” as described by the surgeon.  It was fascinating to see a repair up close, as well as the musculature that we’ve learned about but not physically seen.  The patient we observed was quite unique, as the patient’s small oral cavity caused the levator veli palatini muscle to insert into the nasal septum.  Throughout the surgery, the surgeon explained the steps he was taking in the repair, directing our awareness to the presentation of the patient (oral care, jaw shape, etc.)

When we got back to the hotel, we met (along with cake and cookies) to watch the movie “Making the Crooked Straight,” a documentary that follows Dr. Rick Hodes, a man who provides medical care all over Ethiopia.  He provides free medication and raises surgery funds for patients with tuberculosis of the spine and other illnesses (or arranges for them to have surgeries in other countries).  Dr. Hodes and his work is truly inspiring, and if all goes as planned, we may be meeting him for dinner on Wednesday!

Finally, we ended the evening with a birthday celebration for our fantastic filmmaker/photographer Josh Hayes (happy birthday, Josh!).  It was a nice way to close a full day of training, clinical work, and cultural enrichment.

-Michael and Georgia

1/10/15 Gregorian – – – – 5/2/2007 Ethiopian

Greetings! Early this morning we met with our Ethiopian, Kenyan, Nigerian, and Ghanaian colleagues to initiate day 2 of cleft palate training and clinic. Josh, Lisa, and Jayne began by creating video tutorials with two of Ethiopia’s finest SLPs. These SLPs discussed how a variety of speech sounds are impacted by cleft palate, in simple, easy to understand language. Once complete, the videos will be added to those already on the leaders project website (leadersproject.org), so that SLPs with limited training in cleft palate and parents/guardians of children with no access to SLPs, can access the information and initiate a successful treatment program.

Meanwhile in the classroom….

Cate led an extremely interactive lecture on anatomy, during which students morphed into oral and pharyngeal musculature to pantomime movements of the vocal tract. An informative lecture for all!

     

Lunch was again delicious, catered by the hospital. The time was spent getting to know our non-TC colleagues, sharing diverse cultural norms including cuisine, style, and of course speech and language concepts.

We cleaned up lunch and prepped the treatment rooms for therapy. Two therapy sessions were conducted within each room! As such, preparation was strategic. As the patients arrived treatment groups rapidly assembled and treatment began! Students immediately implemented techniques learned earlier in the day; sometimes finding difficulty generalizing from the classroom to the treatment setting, however ultimately finding success and gaining confidence!

During stimulability testing, the students all reveled in watching patient’s faces light up in pride and amazement, as they listened to themselves produce certain sounds for the first time. Truly heartwarming and fulfilling, one reason we do what we do!