Carina Vogel R&E

“ Trapped all your life…” Meet Melody, she is going out of her mind. She can’t talk and she can’t write, use the bathroom, and eat by herself. She was born this way, she has cerebral palsy. People call her the R word because they think she doesn’t know anything. But her mind is like a video camera. It is always recording and she is actually the smartest girl in the WHOLE school but no one knows it. Read the book Out Of My Mind to see what happens to Melody and how she solves her problems.

Hi I’m Mrs. V and my neighbor is Melody, and she was born with cerebral palsy and I babysit her while her parents are at work. Today she is over laying on her back and I can tell she is frustrated she can’t move. She starts making noises like she is mad. Because I know she understands me I tell her “you can flip over on your own. I know you can do it.” She has probably never tried and is used to her parents doing everything for her. She finally flips on her own and I was so proud of her! I was also trying to get her to reach her favorite squeaky monkey. She keeps trying and trying and I keep encouraging her. She pulls herself forward on the blanket getting closer and closer to the monkey. She finally reaches it and squeaks it in happiness. Melody learned a lot today.

My exploration is on cerebral palsy because the character in the book, Melody, has cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the motor control centers of the developing brain. This mean it effects being able to move or anything in your body that has to do with your brain controlling movement. This damage usually happens in pregnancy, during birth or after birth up to about 3 years old. It effects being able to physically move, talk, and sometimes seeing. Babies born with low birth weight or born early are more likely to get cerebral palsy. 2 in 1000 babies are born with cerebral palsy and there is no cure. They are just treatments to help with the effects of it.