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Children with Cerebral Palsy
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Traumatic Brain Injury
Cerebral Palsy is a broad term used for a group of various conditions of movement disorder characterized by impaired movements, reflexes, muscle-tone, and posture. (Cerebral Palsy Foundation 2017) To simplify the term, in essence, it is - “cerebral” – meaning the brain, and “palsy” – meaning paralysis or weakness of muscles. It is the result of problems encountered during brain development. Cerebral Palsy can be attributed to brain injury, or in some cases genetic mutation, of some nature to the developing brain. CP is caused by a variety of things including: genetic mutations, lack of oxygen (such as during birth), traumatic injury to the brain from outside forces, fetal stroke, or maternal/fetal or infant infections. (Mayo Clinic Cerebral Palsy 2017) CP is the most common motor disability in childhood. (For more statistics from the CDC click here. )
People with CP often present with either a rigid or, conversely, a toneless (floppy) posture. They may have movements that are unintentional, and an abnormal gait when walking. Some people with CP need to use a wheelchair instead for mobility. As with any kind of brain anomaly, intellectually people with CP also vary greatly. Some have normal intellectual functioning, and others may be quite impaired. Other systems may also be affected including vision, hearing, eating/swallowing, bowel and bladder function, and high-risk for seizures. The severity to function differs individually. It all depends on how much damage occurred and where in the brain it occurred.
To learn about the types of Cerebral Palsy and access resources, including an educational video library, you can connect to the Cerebral Palsy Foundation website here.
You can also access a thorough summary of information on Cerebral Palsy, including current treatment modalities, presented by National Institute of Health here, and Mayo Clinic here.
Children and families affected by Cerebral Palsy face ongoing challenges in daily care and functioning in activities of daily living, as well as continuing care in prevention of complications due to the variety of physical impairments. Additional sources of support can be found at the following links:
United Cerebral Palsy
My Child Without Limits
Reaching for the Stars (A Foundation of Hope for Children with Cerebral Palsy)
American Association for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM)
People with CP often present with either a rigid or, conversely, a toneless (floppy) posture. They may have movements that are unintentional, and an abnormal gait when walking. Some people with CP need to use a wheelchair instead for mobility. As with any kind of brain anomaly, intellectually people with CP also vary greatly. Some have normal intellectual functioning, and others may be quite impaired. Other systems may also be affected including vision, hearing, eating/swallowing, bowel and bladder function, and high-risk for seizures. The severity to function differs individually. It all depends on how much damage occurred and where in the brain it occurred.
To learn about the types of Cerebral Palsy and access resources, including an educational video library, you can connect to the Cerebral Palsy Foundation website here.
You can also access a thorough summary of information on Cerebral Palsy, including current treatment modalities, presented by National Institute of Health here, and Mayo Clinic here.
Children and families affected by Cerebral Palsy face ongoing challenges in daily care and functioning in activities of daily living, as well as continuing care in prevention of complications due to the variety of physical impairments. Additional sources of support can be found at the following links:
United Cerebral Palsy
My Child Without Limits
Reaching for the Stars (A Foundation of Hope for Children with Cerebral Palsy)
American Association for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM)
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Traumatic Brain Injury can happen to an individual at any time when an outside force causes injury to the brain. Acquired Brain Injury can also occur any time after birth, such as in some cases of CP above, when the brain may have been depleted of oxygen, or by illness. Regardless of whether the brain injury is caused by trauma, or was acquired, similar effects may occur.
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Traumatic Brain Injury is more common than many people realize. Again, as with any brain injury, the effects a person can have vary upon multiple factors including the severity of the brain injury and the specific area of the brain that was injured. Due to the spectrum that brain injuries present upon, some are "seen" disabilities, and others are "unseen". Multiple body systems could be affected from TBI including (but not limited to) muscular, vestibular, vision, or hearing. TBI is becoming more recognized among children and teens with the increased research on brain injuries incurred during sports, such as football. Awareness is also increasing due to the increase in TBI rates among Veterans of our current war. TBI is the signature injury of the present military due to increased exposure to blast injuries. It is important for the churches to realize that many of their adults may also have late effects of TBI from sports participation, vehicle accidents, military service abroad, or a variety of other head injury related incidents throughout their life.
Visuals from CDC statistics 2017.
For more CDC statistics click here. |
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TBIs are classified as mild, moderate, or severe. Just like many neurological conditions, no two brain injuries will present exactly the same way, but there are some effects that are more prevalent than others. The effects of the TBI are determined by the area of the brain that sustained the injury.
Mild TBI is the most common of head injuries (75% - 80%). A mild TBI is harder to diagnose, because they are so common, and the injury is subtle. Loss of consciousness does not have to occur, only an alteration of consciousness – meaning the person is dazed or confused due to internal “shaking” of the brain. Think of your high school football player who “got his clock cleaned” in the game. He shakes it off after a few minutes or just after that game and goes on. This is most familiarly termed as a “concussion”. According to the Brain Injury Alliance and CDC statistics, 90% of people recover fully from a concussion in about 6-8 weeks. Most brain injury recovery (of any severity) that is going to occur happens within the first 18 months after the injury. With a concussion / mild TBI, the person may have headaches, nausea, short term memory lapses, irritability, sleep disturbance, and light sensitivity in the hours and days following the injury. After a sufficient period of rest (the 6-8 week mark) if full recovery is not achieved then it becomes suspicious that the individual is falling into the 10% of mild TBI cases that have ongoing deficits. Making it even more difficult to diagnose, these deficits may not be evident immediately. Often these are only identified later with ongoing post traumatic headaches, fatigue, memory and learning problems. Complicating matters, with both mild and moderate TBI diagnoses, is that many of the symptoms also overlap with a variety of other possible conditions, or co-occurring conditions that person may have. There is no “cure” for brain injury. Instead, treatment is focused on symptom management. You do not need to know the severity level of the injury for certain in order to apply help for the symptoms a child or adult with TBI is facing.
For parents, teachers (including children’s church teachers and helpers), and the church family it is important to remember that brain injury can result in a spectrum (mild to moderate) of challenges in one or more of these areas: physical functions, perceptual and motor abilities, cognition and information processing, speech-language communication, reasoning, problem solving, abstract thinking, memory, attention and concentration, and psychological behavior.
You may see a child with a brain injury as "behavioral". Please remember that ALL behavior has a purpose. The child acting out needs to be perceived through a lens of compassion that a frustration has arisen he or she cannot express or recognize right away. In other words - be understanding. Look for a possible reason for the behavior, and apply appropriate accommodations to support the child to be able to participate without undo frustration.
Mild TBI is the most common of head injuries (75% - 80%). A mild TBI is harder to diagnose, because they are so common, and the injury is subtle. Loss of consciousness does not have to occur, only an alteration of consciousness – meaning the person is dazed or confused due to internal “shaking” of the brain. Think of your high school football player who “got his clock cleaned” in the game. He shakes it off after a few minutes or just after that game and goes on. This is most familiarly termed as a “concussion”. According to the Brain Injury Alliance and CDC statistics, 90% of people recover fully from a concussion in about 6-8 weeks. Most brain injury recovery (of any severity) that is going to occur happens within the first 18 months after the injury. With a concussion / mild TBI, the person may have headaches, nausea, short term memory lapses, irritability, sleep disturbance, and light sensitivity in the hours and days following the injury. After a sufficient period of rest (the 6-8 week mark) if full recovery is not achieved then it becomes suspicious that the individual is falling into the 10% of mild TBI cases that have ongoing deficits. Making it even more difficult to diagnose, these deficits may not be evident immediately. Often these are only identified later with ongoing post traumatic headaches, fatigue, memory and learning problems. Complicating matters, with both mild and moderate TBI diagnoses, is that many of the symptoms also overlap with a variety of other possible conditions, or co-occurring conditions that person may have. There is no “cure” for brain injury. Instead, treatment is focused on symptom management. You do not need to know the severity level of the injury for certain in order to apply help for the symptoms a child or adult with TBI is facing.
For parents, teachers (including children’s church teachers and helpers), and the church family it is important to remember that brain injury can result in a spectrum (mild to moderate) of challenges in one or more of these areas: physical functions, perceptual and motor abilities, cognition and information processing, speech-language communication, reasoning, problem solving, abstract thinking, memory, attention and concentration, and psychological behavior.
You may see a child with a brain injury as "behavioral". Please remember that ALL behavior has a purpose. The child acting out needs to be perceived through a lens of compassion that a frustration has arisen he or she cannot express or recognize right away. In other words - be understanding. Look for a possible reason for the behavior, and apply appropriate accommodations to support the child to be able to participate without undo frustration.
Additional Resources |
CDC TBI Data and Statistics
Brain Injury Alliance of MT
CDC: Heads Up to Youth Sports
Iowa Brain Injury Alliance/ Pediatrics
North American Brain Injury Society
Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center
Brain Injury Alliance of MT
CDC: Heads Up to Youth Sports
Iowa Brain Injury Alliance/ Pediatrics
North American Brain Injury Society
Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center
References
AACPDM. 2017. http://www.aacpdm.org/.
Brain Injury Alliance of Iowa/ Pediatrics. 2017. http://www.biaia.org/resources.htm#Pediatric.
Brain Injury Alliance of Montana. 2017. http://biamt.org/.
CDC: Cerebral Palsy. February 3, 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/cp/data.html.
CDC: Heads Up to Youth Sports. 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/youthsports/index.html.
CDC: TBI Data and Statistics. 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/data/rates.html.
Cerebral Palsy Foundation. 2017. http://yourcpf.org/.
Cerebral Palsy: Hope Through Research. 2017. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Hope-Through-Research/Cerebral-Palsy-Hope-Through-Research#organization.
Defense and Veterans Brain injury Center. 2017. http://dvbic.dcoe.mil/.
Mayo Clinic Cerebral Palsy . 2017. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cerebral-palsy/home/ovc-20236549.
My Child Without Limits: Cerebral Palsy. 2017. http://www.mychildwithoutlimits.org/understand/cerebral-palsy/.
North American Brain Injury Society. 2017. http://www.nabis.org/.
Reaching for the Stars: A Foundation of Hope for Children with CP. 2017. http://reachingforthestars.org/.
United Cerebral Palsy. 2017. www.ucp.org.
AACPDM. 2017. http://www.aacpdm.org/.
Brain Injury Alliance of Iowa/ Pediatrics. 2017. http://www.biaia.org/resources.htm#Pediatric.
Brain Injury Alliance of Montana. 2017. http://biamt.org/.
CDC: Cerebral Palsy. February 3, 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/cp/data.html.
CDC: Heads Up to Youth Sports. 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/youthsports/index.html.
CDC: TBI Data and Statistics. 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/data/rates.html.
Cerebral Palsy Foundation. 2017. http://yourcpf.org/.
Cerebral Palsy: Hope Through Research. 2017. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Hope-Through-Research/Cerebral-Palsy-Hope-Through-Research#organization.
Defense and Veterans Brain injury Center. 2017. http://dvbic.dcoe.mil/.
Mayo Clinic Cerebral Palsy . 2017. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cerebral-palsy/home/ovc-20236549.
My Child Without Limits: Cerebral Palsy. 2017. http://www.mychildwithoutlimits.org/understand/cerebral-palsy/.
North American Brain Injury Society. 2017. http://www.nabis.org/.
Reaching for the Stars: A Foundation of Hope for Children with CP. 2017. http://reachingforthestars.org/.
United Cerebral Palsy. 2017. www.ucp.org.
This web page was designed by Marcy Steffy, May 2017.
To read more about Marcy's journey as a special needs parent click on the contributor's blog entitled You Will Never Be The Same.
To read more about Marcy's journey as a special needs parent click on the contributor's blog entitled You Will Never Be The Same.