CEREBRAL PALSEY

GOAL: Upon completion of this lesson, the student will be able to describe five of the symptoms of Cerebral Palsey. The lesson will be followed by a spot quiz which they will attain a grade 0f 80% or better and will count as 10% percent of the marking period grade.completiondescribesymptomsCerebral Palseygrade

Definations: Spastic Cerebral Palsey: stiff and difficult muscle movement. Athetoid Cerebral Palsey: involuntary and uncontrolled muscle movement. Alazic Cerebral Palsey: disturbed sense of balance and depth perception. Mixed Cerebral Palsey: a combination of the about types in one person.

Statistics: Cerebral Palsey affectsd one in 278 births. There are over 764,000 children and adults living wih Cerebral Palsey. There are about 8,000 infants and children diagnosed with Cerebral Palsey every year.

Age of onset: After birth, some of these symptoms may quickly appear. However, after any type of brain or spinal cord injury, any or all of these symptoms may develope. The infant may demonstrate poor sucking after birth.demonstrate The skin may be blue or dusky at birth.skin The infant needs resuscitation at, or shortly after birth because he/she is not breathing. The bag of waters was ruptured over 24 hours. There is no history in the family of brain damage.family ofbrain damage There is meconium (fecal) staining on the baby at the time of delivery.staining The infant has problems maintaining temperature after birth. There is no indication of trauma or infection during the pregnancy. The infant is floppy at birth. Seizures develop within 24 to 48 hours. A baby who was born full-term, but does not go home at the same time as the mother. Older children and adults can develop Cerebral Palsey from accidents they may have that resulted in various injuries to the brain or spinal cord.

Possible Causes: Cerebral Palsey Cerebral Palsey is caused by an injury to the brain and / or the spinal cord. Cerebral Palsey can be caused by an accident that occured in the delivery room by a doctor or by an brain injury afer birth. You do not have to be born cerebral palsey to have it later in life.injuryspinal cordCerebral Palseybrain injurycerebral palsey

Treatment / Cure: There is no cure for Cerebral Palsey as the injury to the brain or spinal cord was caused by an peroid of oxygen deprivation however so slight that can not be fixed and the brain and spinal cord cells once dead, do not regenerate. Cerebral Palsey does not worsen over time and symptoms often get better with physical therapy, occupational therapy, and other treatments. A person with Cerebral Palsey may be able to use unaffected parts of the brain to learn simple things like walking, talking, eating, things that we take for granted. There are medications available to help control some of the symptoms like seizures and to relax tight mucles. Like all medications some work and some do not, so they have to experiment with the different drugs to find ones that work for the patient and use them.physical therapyoccupational therapy

Implications for Schools: Children with Cerebral Palsey typically are delayed in meeting developmental milestones such as holding their head steady, rolling over, crawling, sitting up standing with support or walking. Simple things that schools require like potty training may not have been accomplished yet, Special schools may have to take over this learning process. The costs for educating children with Ceberal Palsey is quite high. Assistive Technology is not cheap. Due to the additional costs from special education teachers and aids and physical and occupational therapists, most public school districts will refer their students with Cerebral Palsey out to private school (Lakeview School, Edison, NJ) that are better set-up to deal with the special needs of these students. Some students may have feeding tubes which would require certified Nurses to administer and monitor administration.

Educational Strategies: Students with Cerebral Palsey require sessions of physical and occupational therapies and a lot of repetition for them to learn things to help improve their life. This sessions are very tedious sessions with slow rewards for the teacher and the therapist. Constant stretching of their muscles is one of the main activities of the therapists. The students respond positively to these stretching exercises.

Latest research: My research has revealed that nutrition is being studied as a possible treatment for Cerebral Palsey. There is continued research on new medications to relieve the symptoms and improve the quality of life for the Cerebral Palsey patient. There are problems with some of the side effects with the medications that help control or reduce seizures, so pharmacutical companies are looking for alternative medications.

Assistive Technology: Half of people with cerebral palsy use assistive devices, including braces, walkers, and wheelchairs, to help them be more mobile. There are devices available to allow the patient to articulate speech. There are also charts that the patient can use to respond to questions. Depending on the need of the patient, there are many assistive devices of whatever level to help them.

Long-term Prognosis: The long term prognonis of adults with Cerebral Palsey is not much different than other people. As they age, all people will experience similiar difficulties in walking and doing many things that they used to be able to do.

All specialized schools try to teach Cerebral Palsey or Autistic students skills that they can use to perform various jobs and become productive members of their community. The jobs may be simple, but the sets a lot of satisfaction from doing them.