Cerebral Palsy Group 2 Lillian I. Flores Dawn Whitmore Gina Pauley

What is Cerebral Palsy? It is a disorder that affects muscle tone, movement, and motor skills. Cerebral Palsy is a disturbance of the motor system, but it is not progressive. There are often many associated problems such as mental retardation, hearing, speech, motor, and/or vision impairments, and health concerns. Causes of Cerebral Palsy : The exact cause of CP varies from child to child, but many cases result from:   Problems during pregnancy in which the brain is either damaged or doesn’t develop normally.   Some cases of CP may result from problems during delivery. Low levels of oxygen cause damage to the brain, called hypoxia, but the reasons why this happens are not known.   Asphyxia- Trauma and low levels of oxygen during birth is a rare cause   Premature babies with birth weighs less than 3.3 pounds or multiple births such as twins or triplets have an increase risk of having CP   brain damage from lead poisoning, bacterial meningitis, malnutrition, being shaken, or from a car accident while not properly restrained.

Characteristics of Cerebral Palsy How does Cerebral Palsy affect the development of speech? Seventy-five to eighty percent of individuals with CP have dysarthia.   Dysarthia is a neurologically related speech disorder that results from injury to the brain’s frontal lobe – the motor function area. This can cause slurred speech, soft barely audible speech, slow talking, rapid and mumbling speech, abnormal rhythm or tone of speech, hoarseness, and/or damage to the muscles relating to speaking.   Other problems that may result from dysarthia are swallowing problems, drooling, and trouble eating.   Dysarthia varies from person to person and can be compounded by the cognitive level of the individual.  Underdeveloped motor skills  Abnormal or vacillating muscle tone  Decreased muscle tone- Hypotonia  Increased muscle tone- Hypertonia (stiff and rigid)  May favor one side of the body or one movement pattern  Unusual and often awkward posture  May walk on tip toes or may carry arms high in “high guard position” for balance  When under age 3 may demonstrate difficulty with head control and older may hold head in awkward position  Possible seizures and tremors – often take medication to reduce frequency Frequency of Cerebral Palsy Approximately one to two of every 1,000 children have some form of CP.   There are four types of CP: Spastic, Dyskinetic, Ataxic, Hypotonic, and mixed.   Spastic is the most common.   Dyskinetic involves abnormal movements such as twisting and jerking.   Ataxic involves tremors, unsteady gait, loss of coordination, and abnormal movements.   Hypotonic involves floppy muscles at rest, and increased range of motion in the joints.   Mixed involves any combination of the symptoms.

Speaking Difficulties and Speech Therapy  Some people with cerebral palsy have problems moving their mouths to form words correctly. Some have hearing loss, which affects their ability to speak clearly. cerebral palsycerebral palsy  To help a child with cerebral palsy communicate more effectively try: –Looking directly at the child while you are speaking. –Talking slowly. –Using pictures or objects while you are speaking. –Reading with the child and using picture books. Try to get the child involved in the story by saying, for example, "Show me the fire engine" or "Where is the cat?" Speech therapy may include using:  Sign language (hand and body movements) or special boards (with pictures, words, or letters on them). People who do not speak clearly can learn to communicate better using these tools.  The use of augmentative devices for communication purposes  A hearing aid. This device may benefit people who have trouble talking because of hearing loss.  Computers to increase the volume of a voice that is very faint.  Specialized computer programs. Some programs help improve speech through practicing lessons. Other programs are designed to allow a person who does not speak at all to communicate through objects or symbols. Whatever is good to know is difficult to learn. - Greek Proverb Whatever is good to know is difficult to learn. - Greek Proverb

Teaching Strategies " Every child is gifted. " Every child is gifted. They just unwrap their packages at different times." They just unwrap their packages at different times." -- unknown  Focus on essentials.  Make linkages obvious and explicit.  Prime background knowledge.  Provide temporary support for learning.  Use conspicuous steps and strategies.  Review for fluency and generalization.  Realize that every child in the class is their responsibility, not a "problem" to be dealt with  Be flexible: be willing to make accommodations/ adaptations to the curriculum & materials, their instruction, and to re-write objectives for a student's needs  Be able to work in a team  Be a problem solver  Believe in the student's ability to learn: although a CP student may not be able to speak or move fluently, they may be gifted  Realize that although a CP student may never become fully able to conventionally perform a skill, it is still valuable for them to learn it recognize that CP students may have high levels of frustration (unable to communicate, often misunderstood, etc.)  Remember that the student's attitude to learning is very important - encourage a receptiveness to learning (class can be enjoyable and it should be challenging)  Must differentiate between a student's misbehavior and what is disability-related expression by the child  Use the resources available; get informed: watch videos, read books, Google, etc.; communicate with others who have taught students with CP What is necessary and valuable, more than in-depth knowledge of the disability, is to be a good teacher. The methods used to include a student with cerebral palsy will most likely benefit other disabled and non-disabled students... The following strategies are recommended when working with diverse and ESOL learners, which of course would benefit people with CP as well:

References and Resources     eb.htm eb.htm eb.htm  \ \ \   Kameenui & Carnine, Effective Teaching Strategies that Accommodate Diverse Learners, (1998).  