This presentation from the 2023 AACPDM Community Forum presents and overview of the interactions between the types of Cerebral Palsy, Mental and Behavioral Health and various medications and strategies to treat challenging mental health disturbances.
Accessible Yoga Practices is a great weekly newsletter and downloadable yoga guide for those with disabilities and caregivers interested in practicing yoga, on your own terms.
This presentation from the 2023 AACPDM Community Forum presents a model for creating a smooth transition from pediatric care to adult care for teens and young adults with cerebral palsy.
This presentation from the 2023 AACPDM Community Forum presents and overview and a model creating opportunities for employment for individuals with disabilities.
Frame Running is a growing sport and now there is now a central hub for frame running information across the United States and Canada!
Too often, people with disabilities are relegated to being passive when it comes to the arts.
When a person is looking for a way to communicate in alternative ways, they need to find something that really works for them. They need to try to find a voice that sounds natural. They want to try to find a way to be efficient. They want to be able to communicate as normally as possible, even though they're not using their biological voice.
Dr. Tom Novacheck, of Gillette Children's, describes the characteristics of the 4 types of unilateral, otherwise known as hemiplegic gait, and how the use of clinical instrumented gait analysis can help with treatment decision making.
Dr. Tom Novacheck, Gillette Children's, describes what to look for in each of the 4 different gait patterns seen for those with bilateral cerebral palsy and considerations for each type.
Dr. Debbie Song, Gillette Children's, gives an overview of common neurosurgical procedures to address global tone in individuals with cerebral palsy.
It is important to understand how spasticity can impact the muscles and the know what treatments are available to help.
Hypotonic CP, also known as hypotonia, is a form of cerebral palsy that causes low muscle tone. In other words, the muscles are overly relaxed and your child may feel floppy.
Mixed types of CP refer to symptoms that don’t correspond to any single type of CP but are a mix of types. For example, a child with mixed CP may have some muscles that are too tight and others that are too relaxed.
Ataxia affects balance and depth perception. Children with ataxia will often have poor coordination and walk unsteadily with a wide-based gait.
Understanding different gait patterns is important because it can determine what interventions will potentially be the most effective.
Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder that affects how clear and understandable a person’s speech is. Between 50-90% of people with CP have dysarthria.
Dyskinesia is an umbrella term encompassing a range of different movements. These are all movements that can be out of your control. Dyskinesia is very common in cerebral palsy.
Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common type of CP. People will experience increased muscle tone and their movements may appear stiff or awkward.
People who have dyskinetic cerebral palsy experience involuntary movements that are difficult to control. These movements can be slow, twisting and writhing, or rapid and jerky, and can impact movement in the hands, arms, feet, legs and even the face or tongue.
Standing devices and standing wheelchair devices are frequently prescribed and often denied equipment options for individuals with cerebral palsy. The attached paper provides evidence and guidance to help appeal to insurers for this equipment.
Complex Rehabilitation Technology serves to enhance the lives of individuals who utilize it with the goals of maximizing health, wellbeing, participation and independence.
Good nutrition is critical for your child's healthy brain development. It's not uncommon for families to struggle getting enough food to eat. If you feel like you haven't had enough food to feed your whole family in the last month, please talk to someone. This is a common problem.
Pain in people with cerebral palsy is very common, and probably not evaluated frequently enough.
A lot of people with cerebral palsy will experience pain over the course of their life. Through better assessment we can provide better interventions, which will lead to a better quality of life.