Cerebral Palsy

What is Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral refers to the brain. Palsy refers to anything wrong with muscle control or joints in the body. In other words, because of an injury to the brain, those with Cerebral Palsy ("CP" for short) are not able to use some of the muscles in their body in the normal way. CP is not a disease or illness. It is not contagious and it does not get worse. it is not something people "grow out of" either. CP is a permanent condition that only occurs near the time of birth and it is not developed later in life.

What causes CP?

CP is caused by an injury to the brain before, during or shortly after birth. In many cases, no one knows for sure what causes the injury itself or what might have been done to prevent it.

• Before birth. The injury to the brain may happen while the fetus is still in the womb. For instance, if the mother gets an infection or has an accident where she gets hurt. Existing medical conditions such as high blood pressure or diabeter during pregnancy may also be causes.
• During birth.There may be problems during the birth such as the baby not getting enough oxygen or a difficult delivery in which the baby's brain is injured.
• Shortly after birth Problems may happen when the baby is born prematurely and his/her body is not ready to live outside the womb. Sometimes, even babies born at term may develop an infection or bleeding in the brain that may cause an injury.

Different Types of CP

• Spastic CP is characterized by stiff and jerky movements because the muscles are too tight. Moving from one position to another or letting go of something in the hand is particularly hard to do. This is the most common type of CP.
• Ataxic CP is characterized by difficulty in coordinating movement because of low muscle tone. Doing things that require movement, such as walking, are particularly hard because of very poor balance and uncontrollable shaking. It takes longer to finish a task like writing or doing art projects.
• Athetoid CP is a mixture of both Spastic and Ataxic CP. In other words, muscle tone is both too high and too low. It is especially challenging to coordinate movement because it takes a lot more concentration and effort to accomplish a rather simple task such as reaching out for a cup. Athetoid CP is characterized by difficulty in maintaining a steady position and lots of involuntary movement of the face, arms and upper body.

Problems associated with CP

In addition to problems controlling muscle movement, other issues may come up as a result of CP, most of which are caused by the same brain injury that caused the CP.

• Talking and eating CP also affects people the ways they move their mouth, face and head. This makes it hard for speaking clearly, biting, chewing and swallowing food. Their speech may be hard to understand because it takes them a lot of hard work to coordinate the mouth’s muscles to pronounce the right words.
• Learning problems One fourth of people with CP have some specific learning disability having trouble with one or two subjects in school but learn other things well. It may be a complex disability, like mental retardation, in which global learning comes at a much slower rate.
• Seizures The brain injury can be severe enough to cause seizures. These are a sudden attack of electrical impulses in the brain causing the body to react. The reaction can range from petit mal (blank stare) to grand mal (uncontrollable shaking of the body).

Therapy for CP

Afflicted individuals may need different types of therapy to help them improve motor skills such as walking, talking and using their hands.

• Physical therapy Physical therapy helps people learn better ways to move and balance themselves for walking , using a wheelchair, standing by themselves and going up and down the stairs safely.
• Speech and Language Therapy Works in communication skills such as talking, using sign language or using communication aids, to enable clearer speech and easier way to communicate for better understanding and acquiring language skills.
• Occupational Therapy Works on better ways to use arms, hands and upper body to facilitate better or easier ways to write, draw, brush hair, dress and eat.
• Recreational Therapy The purpose is to help people have fun, work on sports skills and other leisure activities such as dancing, swimming and horseback riding.

How can CP be prevented?

Measures for prevention are increasingly possible. Pregnant woman are motivated for proper prenatal care; prevention of prematurity; reduce exposure to viruses and infections; avoiding exposure to x-rays, drugs and medication; controlling diabetes, anemia and other nutritional deficiencies. Be sure to be healthy prior to conception and protect infants from accidents and injuries.

How we address the needs of these consumers

• We provide assistance in communication to these consumers as well as using assistive technology in comunication like the 'Dynabox' which can speak for the consumer.
• We provide mobility training that is specifically tailored to address this condition
• We also provide assistance in acquiring Physical Theraphy for the consumer.