Researching Cerebral Palsy and looking at the name it explains itself, Cerebral meaning “of the brain” (The Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy, 2011) and Palsy meaning “lack of muscle control” (The Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy, 2011). Cerebral Palsy, also known as CP for short, is a neurological condition that affects body movement and muscle coordination (The Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy, 2011). Getting Cerebral Palsy can happen from many issues like premature birth, a child not receiving enough nutrients before birth, getting infections or having a serious brain injury. CP can affect any child from pregnancy or birth (Healthwise, 2018). The topics that will be discussed within this essay will be; how Cerebral Palsy impacts child development, signs and symptoms, detection, and lastly the interventions and support that children with Cerebral Palsy can receive.
Cerebral Palsy can result in major impacts on a child’s life because it is known that all children who are diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy all have issues with their body movement. it's also known as “the most common physical disability in children” (CanChild,2019) where “1 out of 400 people in Canada” (CanChild,2019) are impacted by CP. The impact on their body movements leads Cerebral Palsy to affect their everyday lifestyle with children not being able to do daily activities that a person would normally see children doing with examples being running, monkey bars, biking or even swimming. However, their physical issues are different from each other, some children with Cerebral Palsy have harder issues than others (Healthwise, 2018). People diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy have issues with their body movement and posture, it does not worsen over time but it can be seen less or more over the time a child grows. Children with CP can have their whole body or one side of the body impacted. The symptoms will vary by person, the most come ones are intellectual disabilities that can lead to learning disabilities. Seizures can result in uncontrollable spastic movement and loss of body functions. Challenges with oral health that can result in gaging, difficulty with eating, and oral diseases. Difficulty seeing and hearing which can create challenges when interacting with others. The lack of control on their ability to urinate is known as urinary incontinence. People with CP also often struggle with their Mental health due to the impacts of the physical disabilities and daily challenges they face. (Mayoclinic, 2019).
When testing to see if a child is living with Cerebral Palsy the doctor will first perform a physical examination and ask about the child's medical history once the doctor can see some signs of CP they later go to resources that can help confirm the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy like “CAT scans (Computerized Axial Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) can identify lesions in the brain it can be diagnosed very early” (The Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy, 2011). If a child has a severe form of CP it can be diagnosed as early as within a child's first few months of life, however most of the time CP is not diagnosed for months or even years (Healthwise, 2018). Therapy can really help a child living with Cerebral Palsy with being able to cope with the effects on daily life activities, for example, the therapies that help with home life or school life such as physical therapy help children to learn how to reach their full capability for physical independence with moving large muscles examples of physical therapy is exercises like going for walks. (The Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy,2019). Another therapy is Occupational Therapy helps children improve fine motor skills and provides some help with feeding and bathroom aids (The Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy, 2019). The last therapy that is very beneficial for children living with CP is speech and language therapy its goal is to improve communication skills, it can also help with “feeding, drooling, non-oral feeding, or other oral-motor functions”. (The Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy, 2019).
There are four main types of Cerebral Palsy a child can be diagnosed with, the first and most common form is Spasticity which affects the person's muscles causing them to be stiff from increased muscle tone. This form of CP causes them to have difficulty with movements and “affects about 80% of people with CP” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). Spastic Cerebral Palsy is divided into three types, Diplegia/diparesis which affects the legs causing people to be very stiff in their legs leading to the person with this form of CP having a lot of difficulties walking from their lower body muscles being very tight causing their legs to pull together. Another one is Hemiplegia/hemiparesis which affects one side of the body, typically the person’s arm is more affected than the leg (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). The third and most severe form of Spastic is Quadriplegia/quadriparesis, this form affects all arms and legs, torso and face. Due to the severity of the physical disability, the majority of people who have this form also are not able to walk, and have issues with their vision, speech, hearing and other developmental disabilities (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,2019).
The second type is Dyskinesia Cerebral Palsy is when someone has uncontrollable movements with their hands, feet, arms, legs or even face movements. Their muscles go from very tight to very loose which can affect someone with having a hard time with sitting or walking (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,2019). The third type is Ataxic Cerebral Palsy which causes issues with balance and coordination making them unsteady while they try to walk. They also may have trouble with fast movements that need a lot of control over the body an example is writing because a person has to make small controlled movements (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,2019). The last diagnosis for Cerebral Palsy is when someone is diagnosed with having more than just one type of CP this is called mixed Cerebral Palsy “the most common type of mixed CP is Spastic-dyskinetic CP” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,2019).
Parents of a child with Cerebral Palsy are going to have difficulties, being a new parent is hard, and adding on a disability adds additional complexities to parenting. However, there are many places that can help provide support specifically geared towards parents, parent support group called Hand Over Hand it’s located in the York region and the meetings are monthly or weekly between 2-4 pm. They focus on moral and emotional support, and they discuss and share resources with other parents on many topics (Connect Ability, 2018). They also have activities for parents to have a break and get out of their everyday routine. Hand over hand give “free child care services for Social Group members while parent support group meetings take place” (Connect Ability, 2018). Another advocacy support is Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy located at 1630 Lawrence Ave W, Suite 104 in Toronto which provides a children and family support program which offers information that will help in caring for their child. They also have the Life Enriching Activity Funding program also known as LEAF it gives opportunities to children with CP to get involved in activities like “horseback riding, summer camp, swimming, art lessons, computer classes, or a community-based day program” (Toronto Central Healthline, 2019). Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy can also help you find more resources with the Assistive Devices Funding program which helps with the purchase of equipment like wheelchairs bathing and bathroom aids. They can also give some financial help with the OFCP Household Pick-up Service with providing used clothing and household goods donation bins (Toronto Central Healthline,2019).
Looking into my previous emotional response about my feelings towards Cerebral Palsy was minimal, my knowledge on CP was limited to knowing it is a disability that affects an individual's muscles. Receiving this topic increased my knowledge and interest, the research allowed me to learn more about the topic, which improve my understanding of the topic. During my research I discovered I had some misunderstandings about Cerebral Palsy, such as CP is not life-threatening, and it doesn't get worse with aging over time, it usually just tends to stay the same throughout the person's life (The Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy, 2011). Another misconception I had prior to my research was CP could be cured. This is not the case, someone living with Cerebral Palsy can receive assistance to improve the effects of CP with certain therapies, like speech or physical therapy but these will only help someone manage their CP, it will not go away. The last misunderstanding I had was I thought CP was hereditary, CP is a disorder caused by a brain injury from birth, not transferred genetically from parent to child. Becoming more informed about Cerebral Palsy has changed my feelings, prior to being a Child Youth Councillor, I did not realize I would be required to have a greater understanding of disabilities like CP. As CP is a common disability in children it is likely with me being in the child youth program that I will be required to handle cases where children have Cerebral Palsy and other common disabilities. As it is my goal to work in the field and work with kids, it is important to understand and have some insight into these disabilities, this knowledge will allow me to support them in the best way possible.