Give HK Cleft Lip and Palate Families a Smile

Distribution of COVID Prevention Materials

Standing shoulder to shoulder with the members to fight against the epidemic, HKACLP gathers COVID prevention materials from various donors and distributes them to the families of limited means with a hope that could relieve their needs and help to keep them away from the threat of the coronavirus. 

Prenatal Feeding Training Workshop

Under the situation of COVID-19, public hospitals have implemented special infection control measures, and thus the discharge of newborn cleft lip and palate babies who have feeding problems are much delayed inevitably.  It is because after birth the babies will be kept in nursery for 3-4 weeks to make sure that the mothers know how to feed them.  During that period, the mothers are allowed to visit their babies and to learn feeding from the speech therapists/occupational therapists once a week. 

In view of this, HKACLP arranges for the pregnant mother ‘Prenatal Feeding Training Workshop’, in which our experienced parents will give pregnant mothers the guidance and practice on feeding cleft lip and palate babies.  We hope that through this Prenatal Feeding Training Workshop the pregnant mothers can get hold the feeding skills before childbirth so as to avoid prolong hospitalization of their new born affected babies.

Oral Myofunctional Therapy On-line Workshop

The oral muscles of cleft lip and palate children, such as facial muscles, lips and tongue, will develop as they grow up and get more chewing experience.  During eating, the children's jawbone, lips and tongue movements must co-ordinate in order to chew food effectively.  Moreover, as young children learn to speak, the flexibility and coordination of the oral muscles is also very important.  Oral muscle dysfunction not only affects chewing, but also severely affects the speech, resulting in mispronunciation.  In the most serious cases, some children cannot even close the mouth due to failure to control the oral muscle that may result in crowded and irregular arrangement of teeth, affecting the growth of jaw bone and the appearance.

Upper jaw of a cleft lip and palate child will grow slower than the lower jaw because surgical repair for cleft palate may hurt part of the palatal muscle and thus the development will be affected.  In addition, the scar tissue on the palate lacks elasticity that forms a pulling force that hinders the growth of the upper jawbone, resulting in underbite and dented midface.  Therefore, correct oral muscle function exercise is very important for their oral and facial development! Through multiple studies by foreign experts, it has been proved that if children with proper oral muscle exercise can help their jaw bones grow, they can improve their occlusion, chewing, speech, communications and even social interaction.

In view of this, HKACLP holds regular ‘Oral Myofunctional Therapy Workshops’  for different age groups of cleft lip and palate children.  During COVID pandemic, the workshop will be presented in the form of on-line lecture.

Links:

• HKACLP Website