Cerebral Palsy
Halie Uhlig
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is a disorder that can either occurs before or during a child's birth, or from when they are born to age five. Cerebral palsy affects movement, motor skills, and muscle tone.
Symptoms
- Unusual crawling
- Abnormal muscle tone
- Difficulty feeding & sucking
- Seizures
- Involuntary slow writing movements
- Lies down in awkward positions
- Problems with eyesight
- Range of movement is limited
Prevention
The mother should do the following while pregnant:
- Be up-to-date on all vaccinations
- Go to all antenatal appointments
- Do not smoke or drink while pregnant
- Eat and exercise regularly
In the medical feild
- Scientists have not come up with a surgery yet.
- Physical and speech therapy
Types of Cerebral palsy
1. Ataxic cerebral palsy-
Causes a bad sense of..
balance
Ataxic: will make the child walks bent forward with their feet spread far apart; some people say they walk like a sailor on a rough sea.
depth perception
Ataxic: The child will have a hard time with depth perception; such as, if you hold your finger up and tell them to touch it, they will most likely miss your finger the first time they try.
2. Spastic cerebral palsy
- 70-80%
Stiffness & movement
- Tension in the muscles=difficulty moving
Affects everyone differently
3. Athetoid cerebral palsy
- Damage to the basal ganglia- mid-brain
- 20-25%
Movement
Athetoid: Causes uncontrolled movements, which are controlled when they are completely relaxed and sometimes only when they are sleeping.
-Usually affects hands, feet, arms, or legs, and sometimes the face and tongue.