Your Cleft-Affected Child: The Complete Book of Information, Resources, and Hope
As the mother of a cleft-palate child, the author has dealt  firsthand with the emotional and medical issues facing all  parents with cleft-affected children. She opens her book with  descriptions of different types of clefts and their possible  causes and assures parents that the defects can be corrected  with surgery. She then talks about the next important issue: how  to feed cleft-affected children. She also explains at length the  emotional impact of cleft-affected children on families and  strategies to help these children cope with other people's  reactions. Other issues such as hearing, speech, dental and  orthodontic work, financial concerns, and support groups are  also discussed. Throughout, there are encouraging profiles of  successful people affected by cleft palate and a whole chapter  about the author's own child, from birth to surgeries, and  growing up happily with a supportive family. Not many books of  this type are available; Karlind Moller & others' A Parent's  Guide to Cleft Lip and Palate (Univ. of Minnesota, 1990. o.p.)  is now over ten years old, and other guides focus on speech or  take a clinical approach to the topic. Packed with important  information, this is highly recommended for all public libraries  and consumer health collections. Lily W. Liu, Arkansas  Children's Hosp., Little RockCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.