Proposal

Project Proposal Imagine a life without smiling. Smiling is something we do without even recognizing it. Smiling helps us through hard times. It is used as a greeting or to show emotion. However, one out of seven hundred children born is born with a cleft lip or palate, which causes them to be unable to smile. Children who are born with a cleft palates or lips are unable to smile, speak, and socialize. Also these children tend to be malnourished because it is difficult for them to eat. So for my graduation project, I will be raising money for Operation Smile, a non-profit organization that benefits children who are born with a cleft palates and/or lips. I will be fundraising through the school, during one of the blocks and during lunches. My plan is to work with Mr. Vizza, the Interact advisor, to help me handle money and to help me plan out the day when we hold the fundraiser. We will hold a $1,000, one block fundraiser. This will raise enough money to operate on 5 children. I will also be selling temporary tattoos and wax teeth, possibly during the week of December 13-17. This fundraiser could go towards maybe another operation or gifts for children who go through the operation. I ordered the teeth from Oriental Trading and I also ordered the tattoos from Operation Smile. With this money they will be able to perform operations that will change a child's life. Through my fundraiser I hope to give many children smiles, something I know I often take for granted. One of my products beside the fundraisers would be a video processed through Animoto which I will be playing during homeroom. This video will be a commercial for the fundraisers and hopefully spur students to donate. I will also be journaling and using Mixbook to do so. Research Proposal For my research I plan to learn about the psychological effects of having a cleft palate on children. I chose this topic because I am thinking about going into psychology in college and possibly specializing in body image therapy when I am older, so this topic ties in the children I’m fundraising for and my interests of study in college. My essential question is what are the psychological and social effects of having a cleft palate as a child and whether or not they have more psychological disorders than children without facial deformities. I’ve never studied this before so I’m really excited. I think the people who will benefit from my research is just any one who is interested or anyone just reading it because it will hopefully open their minds and hearts into the world of a person who has a facial deformity. I know I will definitely benefit from this research because I’ve always been so lucky to have nothing really physically wrong with me so it will just be interesting to read what it is like.  · Hunt, Orlagh, et al. "The Psychosocial Effects of Clleft Lip and Palate: a Systematic Review." //European Journal of Orthodontics//. Oxford Journal, 2005. Web. 24 Sept. 2010. . Orlagh Hunt writes for an orthodontics magazine and works at the Orthodontic Division in School of Dentistry at Queen's University in Belfast, UK. He definitely seems to be an expert in the field of dentistry. The European Journal of Orthodontics is one of the leading periodicals in its field. This source has been great for background research because it introduces the topic and provides studies about children with CLP  · Landson, PhD, R. "Psychological Problems of Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate: Discussion Paper." //Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine// 83 (July 1990): 448-450. Web. 30 Sept. 2010. . R. Landson has a PhD in psychology and works at the Hospital for Sick Children in London. I think this definitely qualifies him to speak about this subject. This source was really good because it talks about the effect that other people have children with CLP and how when teachers and peers treat these children differently their self esteem could severely change by how these people treat them. He also talks about how that children with CLP are very concerned about how their voice sounds which I thought was interesting.  · Turner, S.R. "The Psychological Aspects of Cleft Lip and Palate." //European Journal of Orthodontics//. Oxford Journal, 1998.Web. 4 Oct. 2010. . Turner works at the Division of Child Dental Health and the Bristol University Dental School in Bristol, Uk. To me someone who works at these places is definitely credible. He also writes for the European Journal of Orthodontics, which is one of the leading periodicals in its field. This source was a really good background research source. He talks a lot about parents of CLP children and also talks about patients before and after surgery.