Actualite Children with congenital pathology of maxillofacial area are under medical observation in centre to get optimal results of treatment from birth to 14–18 years. Timely speech therapy help in the preoperative and postoperative period is the key to successful rehabilitation of the child with congenital cleft lip and palate. Early intervention helps to create optimal conditions for the correction and prevention of disorders in the development of speech of children with congenital cleft lip and palate, but, unfortunately, not everyone can get the necessary help systematically. The length of the territory of the Russian Federation, the remoteness of specialised centres, which provide comprehensive medical, psychological and educational help to this category of children, low awareness of parents about the available forms of assistance prevent the timely receipt of correctional help, as well as the possibility of regular systematic training of children.

The aim Develop a distance learning course of speech therapy support for early age children and preschoolers with cleft lip and palate with a gradual learning the child’s family and to evaluate the effectiveness of remote speech therapy support.

Materials and methods The study included 30 early age children and 20 preschoolers, after surgical treatment, and also their parents. A speech therapy training program included a two week course of speech therapy education of children and their parents. Subsequently, according to our program, a distance course of speech therapy support conducted for children with learning their parents.

Results Teaching parents to methods and techniques of speech therapy correction contributes to the formation of the necessary basic competencies for active development of the child’s speech and the maintenance of formed speech habits; also it leads to saving time and money for the families of these children, and significantly reduces the duration of speech therapy work.