Good nutrition is important to ensure optimal growth and healthy muscle and bone development across the lifespan. Children and adults with cerebral palsy often face difficulties with eating and drinking that can be improved with proper assessment and interventions. It is important to know that there are specific growth charts, assessments and approaches for individuals with cerebral palsy that can help improve their nutrition and growth.
Cerebral Palsy Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)3 entity, has the mission to transform lives for people with cerebral palsy and related disabilities through research, innovation and collaboration.
Many things can interfere with the immature brain very early in life. The result is that the brain is not easily able to send clear messages to the body (such as to the muscles). As a result, posture and movement control, and sometimes other aspects of function, may be ‘impaired’.
Communication in all its various forms is the way people interact and relate with their world.People with cerebral palsy may experience difficulties with communication in areas such as speech, the development of gesture and facial expression, receptive and expressive language and voice production. Learning to communicate with others, and ensuring that you’re understood in return, is a vital part of every child’s early development. Speech language pathologists and therapists can make assessments and put together recommendations. For those with more severe oral motor impairments assistive or augmentative communication and technologies can help.
Diagnosis of CP can and should happen as early as possible. Cerebral palsy, except in its mildest forms, is often evident in the first year of life and it’s important to get a diagnosis as early as possible in order to improve long term outcomes. Early diagnosis begins with your child's medical history and could involve your doctor doing a combination of neuroimaging and neurological, and motor assessments.
For people of any age, skills develop as they are used. For a child with cerebral palsy, it’s important to encourage interests and skills as early as possible, and learn more about inclusion in the classroom and in extracurricular activities. For the adolescent and adult with cerebral palsy, there are a wide range of activities and interests to be involved in that will improve both mental and physical health. Don’t stay on the sidelines! Let us help you get involved.
It is always very important to pay close attention to each individual's interests, skills, and goals. These personal factors should be the focus of all our efforts in working with people to enable them to become the best of who they want to be.
Obviously, creating a good environment at home is an important part of supporting your child’s growth and abilities. It’s critically important that a child is encouraged to participate at home and to become part of the family activities – and that the supports are in place to do that.
Preparing for the future is what child ‘development’ is all about! We believe that service providers need to think about the future – in a positive way – right from the start, and encourage parents to do so as well.
