Child Health / Project
"VOICE WITHOUT BORDERS: Speech Therapy Support for Children with Cleft"
35
Children with cleft
77
Speech therapists
"NGO “Ukrainian Smile,” in partnership with SNCE “NDSH Ohmatdyt” and with the support of Smile Train, has been implementing the project “Voice Without Borders: Speech Therapy Support for Children with Clefts” since 2025.
The goal is to improve the quality of speech therapy services for such children in their communities. The initiative includes an online training program for speech therapists from across Ukraine on the specifics of correction in cases of clefts. Specialists selected through testing will reinforce their knowledge in practice and receive supervision from experts during individual sessions with the children participating in the project."
Child Health / Project
"VOICE WITHOUT BORDERS: Speech Therapy Support for Children with Cleft"
35
Children with cleft
77
Speech therapists
"NGO “Ukrainian Smile,” in partnership with SNCE “NDSH Ohmatdyt” and with the support of Smile Train, has been implementing the project “Voice Without Borders: Speech Therapy Support for Children with Clefts” since 2025.
The goal is to improve the quality of speech therapy services for such children in their communities. The initiative includes an online training program for speech therapists from across Ukraine on the specifics of correction in cases of clefts. Specialists selected through testing will reinforce their knowledge in practice and receive supervision from experts during individual sessions with the children participating in the project."
Upcoming dates
Registration of speech therapists is complete
March 14, 2026
9:00p.m.
Online
Registration of parents of children with clefts is complete
March 31, 2026
9:00p.m.
Online
Useful materials
01
Parental consent to participate in the project
02
Speech therapist's consent to participate in the project
03
Speech Therapies for Cleft Palate
04
Training Course: "Multidisciplinary Management of Rehabilitation for Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate"
About
the Project
About
the Project
The implementation of the Project ensures:
- Improving access for children with clefts to qualified speech therapy services in their communities.
- Providing high-quality speech therapy support to children with clefts with the active involvement of their parents.
- Enhancing the knowledge of speech therapists on working with these children.
- Enabling speech therapists to gain practical experience in working with children with clefts with supervision support.
- Developing a network of trained specialists capable of delivering effective support to children with clefts.
Reviews
Online Training “Multidisciplinary Management of Rehabilitation for Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate”
Denysenko Kateryna 7.5 years old, Dnipro
Speech therapist Svitlana Andrushyshyna, Dnipro
Kozik Eva 16 years old, Zaporizhzhia
Speech therapist Svitlana Andrushyshyna, Dnipro
Tonkonoh Sofiia 12 years old, Khmelnytskyi region
Speech therapist Yuliia Bordiuh, Kremenchuk, Poltava region
Skliar Elvira 12 years old, Poltava region
Speech therapist Yuliia Bordiuh, Kremenchuk, Poltava region
Reviews
Online Training “Multidisciplinary Management of Rehabilitation for Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate”
Our achievements
309
Individual speech therapy sessions
Conducted with children
35
Children with clefts
Received qualified speech therapy support in 2025
Interactive activities for home practice with children
33
Children
Improved their speech or acquired new speech skills, аccording to their parents
19
Children
Expressed a desire to continue working with a speech therapist outside the project
77
Speech therapists
Fom 21 regions of Ukraine received knowledge for professional development
16
Speech therapists
Gained practical experience working with children with clefts with supervision support
100%
Speech therapists
Are ready to work with children with clefts in their practice
11 Regions of Ukraine
Where children with clefts gained the opportunity to receive high - quality speech therapy closer to their place of residence
100%
Of parents
Gained useful experience and recommendations for working independently with their child at home to improve their speech
Our achievements
309
Individual speech therapy sessions
Conducted with children
35
Children with clefts
Received qualified speech therapy support in 2025
33
Children
Improved their speech or acquired new speech skills, аccording to their parents
Interactive activities for home practice with children
19
Children
Expressed a desire to continue working with a speech therapist outside the project
77
Speech therapists
Fom 21 regions of Ukraine received knowledge for professional development
11 Regions of Ukraine
Where children with clefts gained the opportunity to receive high - quality speech therapy closer to their place of residence
100%
Of parents
Gained useful experience and recommendations for working independently with their child at home to improve their speech
16
Speech therapists
Gained practical experience working with children with clefts with supervision support
100%
Speech therapists
Are ready to work with children with clefts in their practice
News
5/29/2026
The project “Voice Without Bordess: Speech Therapy Support for Children with Cleft – 2026” has been completed
5/23/2026
On May 22, 2026, the conference “Multidisciplinary Approach to the Treatment of Children with Cleft Lip and Palate” was held in Lviv at Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University.
4/7/2026
Partners of the NGO “Ukrainian Smile” were awarded a Commendation from the Mayor of Kyiv
3/29/2026
Training within the project “VOICE WITHOUT BORDERS: Speech Therapy Support for Children with Clefts – 2026”
3/15/2026
Speech Therapists Registration Closed
3/7/2026
Article about a Ukrainian doctor during the war published in a German newspaper
2/25/2026
Annual Report NGO Ukrainian Smile, 2025.
2/9/2026
On February 5–6, 2026, the All-Ukrainian Professional School with international participation “Plastic Surgery in Children. Cleft Lip and Palate: Modern Strategies of Comprehensive Care” took place in Lviv.
10/3/2025
World Smile Day® with Smile Train
9/30/2025
On September 25–26, the traditional annual scientific and practical event “Ohmatdyt Readings” was held at NDSL Ohmatdyt.
9/9/2025
Ukrainian doctors return to Ukraine with new expertise to improve treatment for children with cleft lip and palate.
8/5/2025
The summer speech therapy camp “Smile – 2025” is the third stage of the project “VOICE WITHOUT BORDERS: Speech therapy assistance for children with facial clefts.”
6/14/2025
Speech therapy classes. With the support of the international organization Smile Train, the Ukrainian Smile NGO has implemented the second stage of the project “Voice Without Borders: Speech Therapy Assistance for Children with Clefts.”
5/8/2025
The Ukrainian Smile NGO, in cooperation with the Ohmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital, is implementing the project “VOICE WITHOUT BORDERS: Speech Therapy Assistance for Children with Clefts” with the support of the international organization Smile Train. The first stage is an online training course entitled “Multidisciplinary Management of Rehabilitation for Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate.”
3/6/2025
Online meeting between parents of children with cleft lip and palate and Lyubov Sanenko, orthodontist at the dental department of the Ohmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital.
12/30/2024
The Bogomolets National Medical University hosted an international scientific and practical conference entitled “Pediatric Maxillofacial Surgery: Achievements, Problems, Prospects.”
10/30/2024
On October 29, 2024, the State Information Agency Ukrinform hosted an advocacy event entitled Smiles for Ukraine: Creating a Healthier World Together - The Smiles of Ukraine's Children - The Future We Create Together.
10/15/2024
Online meeting for parents who have children with cleft lip and palate, with Kateryna Kryvenko, speech therapist at the Center for Medical, Psychological, Social, and Rehabilitation Assistance to Children at the Ohmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital.
8/13/2024
Oleg Golubchenko, a pediatric maxillofacial surgeon at the Department of Reconstructive and Plastic Microsurgery at Ohmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital, received an award—the Order of Courage, III degree—from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
8/6/2024
A tragic event at Ohmatdyt on the first day of the Smile-2024 summer camp
7/19/2024
Smile Train President and CEO Susanne Schaeffer expressed her deepest condolences to Ukraine following Russia's missile strike on the Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital.
7/16/2024
Pediatric surgeon Natalia Tetrueva recounts the events of July 8, describing how maxillofacial surgeons from the Department of Maxillofacial and Plastic Microsurgery performed surgery on a child under Russian shelling at the Ohmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital.
7/11/2024
Oleg Golubchenko, a doctor at Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital, spoke about the “arrival” during the operation in his interviews with TSN and Ukrinform.
7/4/2024
A Ukrainian delegation of maxillofacial surgeons took part in the international scientific conference The European Cleft Palate Craniofacial Association Congress in Milan.
7/2/2024
As part of international medical cooperation, renowned French surgeons Roman Khonsari and Pierre Corr, together with specialists from the Ohmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital, performed seven maxillofacial and craniofacial surgeries on Ukrainian children with severe facial and skull pathologies.
4/5/2024
Ukrainian Smile and Smile Train are helping Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital improve the quality of medical care for children with facial clefts.
4/2/2024
During an online meeting, Kateryna Yurchenko, a psychologist at the Center for Medical, Psychological, and Social Rehabilitation Assistance to Children at Ohmatdyt, answered questions from parents of children with facial clefts.
3/23/2024
Ukrainian speech therapists learn from leading European specialists. Three-day training seminar in Bucharest, Romania.
3/13/2024
Leading American maxillofacial surgeon Oksana Jackson and her team are back in Ukraine.
3/3/2024
The Ukrainian Smile NGO and Ohmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital signed a memorandum of cooperation on the treatment of children with cleft lip and palate.
2/16/2024
Online meeting for parents with children with facial clefts with leading maxillofacial surgeon Natalia Tetruyeva from the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Microsurgery at Ohmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital.
2/2/2024
Ivan Stepurin, president of the Ukrainian Smile NGO, received a letter of thanks from the Ohmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital on the hospital's 130th anniversary.
11/20/2023
A conference entitled “Multidisciplinary Approach to Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Patients with Congenital Diseases of the Maxillofacial Region” was held at the Kyiv Children's Hospital No. 7.
8/22/2023
As part of the cooperation between OHMATDYT National Children's Specialized Hospital and the Israeli organization One Heart, a summer camp for children with cleft lip and palate was organized in Lviv.
8/7/2023
Oksana Jackson, a surgeon in the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Oral Surgery, co-director of the Cleft Lip and Palate Treatment Program and the Velopharyngeal Dysfunction Program (USA), is on another mission in Lviv.
8/6/2023
The Ukrainian Smile NGO donated modern equipment to the OHMATDYT National Children's Specialized Hospital for providing medical care to children with cleft lip and palate.
7/21/2023
During the Global Health Summit in Berlin, Natalia Tetruyeva was named Health Heroine of 2022! The doctor received the Women in Global Health award.
7/12/2023
For the first time in Ukraine, the Ohmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital hosted a scientific and practical conference with the international participation of renowned specialists on “Current issues in the treatment of children with congenital cleft lip and palate.”
News
5/29/2026
The project “Voice Without Bordess: Speech Therapy Support for Children with Cleft – 2026” has been completed
