Instalación y aplicación de la librería TTS en R

Narrative Summary of Superordinate Theme ‘Managing and Valuing Difference’

Quotes (line numbers) Emergent Themes

This theme summarises Josh’s experiences feeling different from his peers because of his cleft palate and the way in which he seemed to respond to this difference both during his transition to high school and more generally. It seemed that in many ways Josh was proud of how his cleft palate set him out as being different from his peer and helped contribute to his unique identity as an individual. In this respect, Josh viewed difference as something to be broadly celebrated, something which was also reinforced by others during times of success and achievement ‘in spite of difference’, such as when Josh won a communication skills award in primary school. In addition, Josh viewed his difference as being special and talked about it as a means of impressing his peers, for example by ‘showing off’ his scars. Overall, this seemed to boost Josh’s self-confidence. Therefore, it is possible that viewing oneself as being different was in some way advantageous and protective to Josh during his transition to high school in that it boosted his self-confidence and enabled him to connect successfully with peers. Incongruously, there was also a sense that for Josh, being different from his peers was to some extent undesirable. For instance, when describing his experiences of difference during his transition to high school, Josh often used words such as ‘dodgy’, ‘hole mouth’ and ‘illnesses’ which seemed to hold negative connotations for Josh. It is possible that because Josh viewed his cleft as a fundamental part of his identity, he felt more threatened by any negative stereotypes (real or perceived) surrounding his difference. Josh described how his friends from his primary school tended not to notice any difference. Or at least, where difference was

“Well people ask me why my voice changes from low to high I just say I have got a cleft palate, and they go what’s one of them”. (lines 11-12)

“They are all like have you got any scars? So I show them…I show them my mouth… they are all impressed.” (13-17) “I was a bit worried like if people like “why’s he talking like that””(35)

“[worried about peers] spreading things about that I have a dodgy voice and that but no one did in the end.” (45-46) “I had like me fallouts with me friends and then like I’d call them and they’d call me and then people would call me ‘hole mouth’ when we fall out and I’d call them peg leg or something, so we’d just call each other’s illnesses.” (48-50)

“…’cause Jake… and jack my mate’s brother, and he looked after me and my best mate…. [it] felt good cause I knew nobody would [pick on me because of my cleft], and he is hard and could look after someone. (97-100)

“As a child Tamsin knew she would like correct me on my words, she like helped me speak a lot better…. cause like if I said juice, she would be like to say JUICE and would sit me down until I said juice properly….[it was] a bit weird, because like she is not an adult and she would correct me, but good growing up because it’s helped me lots. So like I can speak properly. (232-236).

“…it worked didn’t it, cause I got the confident communicator award didn’t I…cause like I didn’t think I would get it because

• Peers questioning the difference emphases the difference.

• Scars are impressive – a thing to be shown off.

• Anxiety about others reaction to the cleft – concerns about acceptance • Difference holds negative connotations (‘dodgy’) • Cleft viewed as an illness/disability: a sense of inadequacy

• Cleft name calling ‘fair game’ between friends.

• Need for protection from peers

• Family support in trying to reduce the level of difference

• Changes in sibling relationship as a result of difference

SCHOOL TRANSITION IN CHILDREN WITH CL/P

2-46

noticed, there was a sense that Josh felt confident in knowing that there was an absence of critical judgment in relation to the difference. However, it seemed that when Josh started high school, thoughts relating to difference as ‘undesirable’ were of greater concern for Josh than perhaps they had been previously. Subsequently, Josh described ways in which he sought to minimise and or hide the extent to which he was viewed as different from others. For instance, Josh described instances in which had avoided shouting during sports at school to try and prevent others from being able to notice he sounded in anyway ‘different’. This also maps onto a more general attempt by Josh and his family throughout his life to reduce the degree of apparent difference perceivable by others, for example through the use of informal ‘speech therapy’ to reduce observable differences. Additionally, it also seemed that Josh and his wider family held a shared ‘normalising’ belief about Josh’s cleft as being different, but not significantly so. This

normalising belief seemed to influence how Josh responded to potential challenges in relation to difference. For instance, Josh described how if peers attempted to point out Josh’s difference, or tease him because of it, he tended to respond by reciprocating this behaviour towards them, thus seeking to normalise difference.

most people with a cleft palate or cleft lip are quieter but I just like I just went for the award and got better.” (235-256) “people sometimes say have you cut yourself, and I’m like no it’s my birth mark. It’s like a strawberry, a little heart and a leaf” (267-268)

“I didn’t like shouting in rugby. I didn’t want to make my voice, people ask what’s wrong with my voice” (308-309).

“It’s better now, because people know about it and they don’t look at me strange, so everyone I grew up with, James my best mate, he says now because we grew up together he can’t notice the difference in my voice because he grew up with it.” (312- 313)

“…people congratulated me for getting on with it, and they wanted to look at me stiches, like where are your new stitches.” (336-337)

“I knew people were happy about me and like they were fascinated by me by my cleft palate, cause like it’s not like a great population of people with them. (339-340)

“yer, but like they [the braces] fixed in the one day anyway so I didn’t need them again. I tightened the loads overnight and just fixed them by myself. It hurt my teeth though. (343-344).

and assumptions about people born with a cleft.

• Achieving in spite of cleft.

• Difference is part of your identity/ proud to be different.

• Trying to hide the difference to avoid others asking questions.

• Old friends don’t notice difference.

• Positive recognition for others for coping with challenges of cleft.

• Being different is special/interesting.

Appendix 2-D