Children With Facial Difference: A Parents' Guide - Softcover

Charkins, Hope

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0933149611 ISBN 13: 9780933149618

Publisher: Woodbine House, 1996

Synopsis

Each year, thousands of children are born with facial difference-abnormalities of the bones and tissues of the head and face that are present at birth or appear a few years later. Some conditions occur more commonly, such as cleft lip and cleft palate, while others, such as hemifacial microsomia, Treacher Collins, Apert, and Crouzon syndromes, are rarer. In addition to the emotional hardship of a different appearance and the attached stigma, some of these conditions pose special health concerns.

A resource that parents can turn to for help is Children with Facial Difference, the first comprehensive book to provide parents with up-to-date information and support.

Children with Facial Difference helps parents understand and cope with the challenges presented by their child's condition: Diagnosis; Causes and the genetic likelihood of recurrence; Emotional adjustment; Medical concerns and multi-disciplinary treatment approaches; Self-esteem; Family and community life; Speech, language, and hearing needs; Education; and Insurance issues, legal rights, and advocacy.

Each chapter of Children with Facial Difference includes parent statements, reassuring and useful bits of information and insights from parents of children with facial difference. These statements help alleviate feelings of isolation and provide comfort and support. With a foreword by Joseph E. Murray, M.D., a Nobel Prize winner in medicine and a pioneer in craniofacial surgery, this book also includes a glossary of terms, a reading list, a resource list of organizations, and an index.

About this title

About the Author

Hope Charkins holds a master's degree in social work from San Diego State University. She works as a medical social worker for the Vermont Department of Health, Division for Children with Special Needs. Along with her husband, she founded the Treacher Collins Foundation and now serves as its executive director. She has two children, one of whom has Treacher Collins syndrome.

Reviews

Woodbine House gives us another excellent volume in their "Special Needs Collection." Charkins, a social worker with the Vermont Division for Children with Special Health Care Needs and the parent of a child with facial difference, is a cofounder of the Treacher Collins Foundation. Covering medical, educational, legal, and social issues, as well as aspects of family life and self-esteem, she brings both technical and personal experience to this much-needed text on abnormalities of the bones and tissues of the head and neck. While much of the information on cleft lip and cleft palate can be readily found elsewhere, the information in lay terms on such conditions as Treacher Collins, Apert, and Crouzon fills a huge void. The chapters follow a format common to the series and, like other volumes, offers contributing editors who represent some of the best in the field. Recommended for all special-needs collections.?KellyJo Houtz Griffin, Northwest Hosp., Auburn, Wash.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Woodbine House
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0933149611
• ISBN 13: 9780933149618
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 361