Speech Care
Operation Smile works to enhance speech care by developing essential workforce capacity in high-need areas.
Children born with cleft conditions are at risk of experiencing difficulties with speech.
These problems are often associated with the structure of the palate, reduced hearing and affected patterns of tongue movement.
Even after surgery, 50% of 5 year olds with repaired cleft conditions continue to experience speech challenges. These issues can prevent students from connecting with peers, leading to isolation and loneliness. In many regions in the countries where we work, consistent speech therapy services can be difficult to find.
Operation Smile is committed to expanding available speech care.
Pedro struggled with being understood. But after surgery, Pedro received speech therapy to help develop his speech.
His mom shared, “Now he says ‘mom.’ He says ‘dad.'”
Our Approach
Operation Smile transforms lives and communities by offering a holistic approach to speech therapy to ensure patients receive feeding and speech assessment and guidance.
Patient Care
Operation Smile delivers high-quality, evidence-based speech care by evaluating each patient for feeding, language and speech needs. Our team provides multidisciplinary services to patients living with cleft conditions, including, nutrition and feeding orientation, early language development, preventive and corrective speech therapy, and caregiver and family support.
Education and Training
We support capacity building in local communities by providing training to health care workers, local volunteers, teachers, caregivers and families.
We have created a robust speech curriculum, which provides training pathways for cleft-trained licensed speech language therapists or pathologists (SLT), non-licensed speech language associates (SLT-A) and speech cleft tutors (CST).
Partnerships
We build partnerships that support our programs with the resources needed to deliver exceptional speech interventions. Operation Smile is committed to training the next generation of medical leaders, engaging caregivers and building a network of partners to create lasting impact.
Expand Your Knowledge
Operation Smile Academy is designed to enhance the experience of medical education in low- and middle-income countries and elevate the capacity for cleft care worldwide. Speech care providers are invited to access a complete curriculum to expand their knowledge and skillset.
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Amid Crisis, Healing
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Meet Anna Weston, Volunteer Speech Pathologist