Cerebral Palsy in Children

Children with Cerebral Palsy often need much more attention then other children do. Special needs for movement, interaction, and communication are sometimes taxing and frustrating to even the most devoted parents, and without special help few of these loving but confused families know where to turn.

The first and most important thing to realize is that most children with Cerebral Palsy have the capacity for intellectual and emotional development. Life may be more challenging and stressful, but that should not prevent you from encouraging and enabling your child to grow and explore.

It is also vital that any siblings of a child with cerebral palsy receive the appropriate amount of attention as well. With so much focus on the child with special needs, these siblings can often feel excluded and marginalized from the family, and studies show these children are statistically more likely to develop behavioral and emotional problems later in life.

Schooling is also a complicated issue for caring for children with Cerebral Palsy. Although the law dictates that children with Cerebral Palsy have the right to attend school with other children, the reality is that these children have special needs that some schools lack the ability to address. Special inclusion programs mix disabled and healthy children into a single learning environment in order to teach them about differences at an early age.

Another important issue many parents of children with Cerebral Palsy must consider is that many of the support services available for families end on either the child's 18 th or 21 st birthday. The prospect of disabled children facing the world is often more than most parents can bear, but the increasing cost of medical care in the United States often forces these children into special group homes or caretaking hospitals.

Regardless of their condition, your child needs your love and support. Cerebral Palsy should not prevent you from taking joy from your child's life. Even though it can be difficult, there are ways to help.

Caring for children with Cerebral Palsy

Children are inherently a big responsibility. Food, clothes, toys, doctor appointments, education - virtually everything that children need is incredibly expensive. For children with special needs such as Cerebral Palsy, these basic necessities can cost three or four times more than with less challenged children.

It is important to realize that your child can develop into a loving, emotionally developed adult, and there are several steps you can take when your child is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. Children with Cerebral Palsy need structured and focused long term treatment in order to fully reach their maximum potential. Some of the more common ways to care for children with Cerebral Palsy include:

• Physical therapy. Training your child's body, muscles, and coordination at an early age can eventually lead to less dependence on mobility aids later on. Early therapy can also prevent contractures, a difficult condition where your child's muscles become fixed, rigid, and immobile.
• Speech therapy. Some children with Cerebral Palsy have many challenges in their speech patterns, so it is important to concentrate on building your child's ability to speak early on. This therapy can also improve your child's ability to eat.
• Daily living therapy. This type of therapy concentrates on improving the skills your child needs to use on a daily basis; things such as feeding, dressing, and general hygiene.
• Hearing and Vision therapy. Cerebral Palsy can affect the muscles that coordinate eye movement, so some children need corrective surgery or eye patches to remedy their situation. Hearing aids can also help your child better interact with their world.
• Supportive Technology. Medical science in the 21 st century has considerably advanced since the first braces and crutches were developed centuries ago. Many daily tasks that were once out of reach for children with Cerebral Palsy are now simpler and less challenging. Customized wheelchairs, computer programs, and voice communication enhancers augment and compliment simple aids such as handrails, magnifiers, and Velcro.
• Medication. Some muscle relaxants can reduce the rigidity of underused muscles and anticonvulsants like Botox can help control muscles spasms.
• Surgery. By far the most evasive and complicated way to care for children with cerebral palsy is through surgery. Depending on the severity of your child's Cerebral Palsy, he or she may need surgery to correct problems on muscles, joints, tendons, or nerves. These procedures can help your child move more efficiently or make better use of walking aids. Once effective operation that can help relieve medication-resistant muscle spasms is an intrathecal baclofen procedure. A large amount of the anti-spastic medication baclofen is placed into a reservoir under the skin around the spinal chord which is continuously pumped through the body to prevent spasms. This complicated procedure requires careful planning by a team of neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, and physical therapists.

Every parent wants their child to live and develop into their full potential. Even though Cerebral Palsy makes that path a bit more difficult, it is best to look on these inconveniences as challenges to be overcome and to take strength from the knowledge that many people would have relented in their struggles at the first sign of adversity. Parents who care for children with Cerebral Palsy are truly some of the unsung heroes of our time.