A cleft lip or palate does not cause learning problems on its own. Unless your child has other problems, his thinking skills should be fine. Do not mistake speech problems for thinking problems. Your CF team will help you monitor your child's mental growth. Your child must have someone to teach him.
Children learn to speak by listening to the voices of others.
You can help your child begin to link spoken words to objects and actions. Talk often to your child about the objects and actions in his world. This includes people, toys, foods, playing, bathing and feeding. Learning speech and language Children begin practicing for speech during the first year of life. Then they make sounds that are like speech sounds.