Summer Camp is an experience that can benefit children with Cerebral Palsy! Camps create opportunities to make friends, learn new skills, build confidence, have an adventure, make a mess, and just have fun! Camps gives kids with disabilities the opportunity to just be kids. NO LIMITS. Whether it be a day camp or an overnight camp, there is bound to be something for everyone.
Learn more about the many adaptive recreational and competitive sports for individuals with cerebral palsy.
Too often, people with disabilities are relegated to being passive when it comes to the arts.
The Winter Paralympics is a great opportunity to learn about the many adaptive recreational and competitive sports for individuals with cerebral palsy.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and physical therapist, Jennifer Jezequel, PT, discuss exercise and fitness for children with Cerebral Palsy.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Byron Lai, PhD, discuss exercise and fitness for individuals with Cerebral Palsy.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Peter Rosenbaum, MD, developmental pediatrician and CPF Scientific Advisory Council member discuss how current thinking about Cerebral Palsy has changed over time with advances in research.
Wouldn’t it be great if inclusive, accessible playgrounds were in every community for all to enjoy? Although progress is being made in certain areas, there is a lot more work to be done to literally level the playing field and help communities and designers understand what makes an inclusive accessible playground and why they are important for people of all abilities.
Individuals with Cerebral Palsy frequently participate in Adaptive Sports and Therapeutic Recreation programs. Though there are often many similarities in programs and frequently the terms are used interchangeably, there are differences that are highlighted here.
Cerebral palsy refers to a group of conditions that are caused by problems in brain development and that affect how movement and motor control happen in children. Problems with walking and talking are often the way people start a conversation about cerebral palsy.
For people with a physical disability, activity is a lifestyle. It's something that can start in physical therapy, but it really is something that has to be carried over into their everyday lives. What has happened over the years is we're understanding the importance of mobility.
It is important to understand the brain injury for each individual person, because they can be really different. Where the injury is can give us important clues to what motor problems that individual will have. The time you have the biggest risk to having a stroke is as a baby, not as an adult so it is important to understand what may be happening in the infants brain.
Cerebral Palsy affects body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. Depending on the part of the brain that is injured depends on how someone’s muscle tone will be effected. For people with spastic CP they have increased muscle tone because of the part of the brain that's injured. If causes very tight muscles which in turn effects the movement of the joints and of the limbs. For others who have dyskinetic CP they lose the ability to have voluntary control over their muscles, and they can have jerky and uncontrolled movement patterns.