The Plan for the Next 18 Years
Disease domain · Lesson 10 of 20 · Shared clinical backbone (the cleft team)
Today's goal: Students will order the major stages of cleft care from birth through adolescence and explain why each is timed when it is, building Mateo's staged multidisciplinary care timeline.
This is a model of the work you should turn in. Use it to check your own: match the structure and the level of detail, do not copy it. Your wording should be your own.
Mateo's care roadmap (in order):
1. Card C, birth to 3 months: feeding support and positioning. Why now: a newborn cannot wait to eat and grow.
2. Card B, about 3 months: cleft lip repair. Why now: restore lip and nasal form early.
3. Card E, about 9 to 12 months: cleft palate repair. Why now: done before the toddler speech window so air stops leaking into the nose as speech forms.
4. Cards G and F threaded through childhood: ear tubes and hearing checks (G), speech therapy and velopharyngeal checks (F). Why now: ear fluid can harm hearing, which harms speech, so G protects F.
5. Card A, about 7 to 11 years: orthodontics and alveolar bone grafting. Why now: done in mixed dentition when adult teeth and the gum ridge are ready.
6. Card D, adolescence into adulthood: definitive orthodontics, jaw surgery, rhinoplasty, scar revision. Why now: once facial growth is largely complete.
Two most urgent this week: feeding (C) and the lip-repair plan (B), because the baby has to grow now and the family needs the near-term surgical timeline first.
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: A correctly sequenced cleft-care timeline with each stage's age and a one-line rationale.
- Copy the required categories or checkpoints.
- Record the current evidence in each field.
- Mark the next action and update the tracker after new evidence arrives.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Note the breadcrumb: every step treats cleft-related needs, while the team continues to test whether any broader syndrome pattern appears.
The finished product above did not appear all at once. Here is the path from the question to the turned-in work, so you can follow the same steps.
- 1Start from today's question: Why does care take years instead of one operation?
- 2Work the Model and the Explore questions to reason it out before writing anything.
- 3Pull the specific evidence the product needs from the reading and any database you used.
- 4Write it up in the required format: Lay out Mateo's roadmap as a simple timeline with the seven stages in order, each with its age and a one-line 'why now,' then circle the two stages you would explain to the parents first this week and write one sentence on why those two are the most urgent right now.
- 5Check it against the rubric, then submit.
| Criterion | Proficient | Developing | Beginning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complete | Every required part of the artifact is present and filled in. | Most parts are present, but one is missing or left blank. | Several parts are missing. |
| Accurate | The science and data are correct and match the evidence. | Mostly correct, with a small factual slip. | Key science or data is wrong. |
| Scientific reasoning (CER) | States a claim, backs it with specific evidence, and explains the reasoning. | Has a claim and evidence, but the reasoning is thin or missing. | Gives an answer with no evidence or reasoning. |
| Professional communication | Clear, organized, and labeled the way a clinician or scientist would write it. | Readable but disorganized or missing labels. | Hard to follow. |
| Submitted | Turned in through the route named under Submit here and confirmed. | Turned in, but in the wrong place or unconfirmed. | Not turned in. |
- CompleteProficient: Nothing is left blank: the model fills every part of "Lay out Mateo's roadmap as a simple timeline with the seven stages in order, each with its age and a one-line 'why now,' then circle the two stages you would explain to the parents first this week and write one sentence on why those two are the most urgent right now.".
- AccurateProficient: Every number and claim matches the case evidence.
- Scientific reasoning (CER)Proficient: It names a claim, cites the specific evidence, and explains the reasoning, not just the answer.
- Professional communicationProficient: It is organized and labeled like a real chart note.
- SubmittedProficient: It would be attached to your class form or handed in, and confirmed.
One exam-style question that uses exactly what you practiced today. Try it before you reveal the answer, then read why each choice is right or wrong.
Tap an answer to see the full explanation. Nothing is recorded or graded.
It builds this reusable test skill: Sequencing cleft-care stages by developmental window.
- Name the concept or data pattern being tested.
- Cross out choices that violate that rule or the evidence.
- Justify the best remaining choice before checking the answer.