March is National Cerebral Palsy Month in the United States and is an opportunity to highlight the history of cerebral palsy advocacy - where we’ve been, where we are currently, and the opportunities that are ahead.
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.
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.
This webinar is with Ketrina Hazell, Ms. Wheelchair 2018, a young woman with cerebral palsy and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program. This webinar is about Ketrina's lived experience in the school system and community and what worked or didn't work as she was growing up.
This webinar with Rachel Byrne, Ashley Harris Whaley and Debbie Fink, focusses on the shifting attitudes towards disabled individuals and authentic representation in media, social media and more.
This webinar with Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of CPF, Ashley Harris Whaley, Director of Communities and Engagement at CPF and individual with with CP, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program, focusses on concepts and definitions addressing disability and how language has evolved.
This webinar, with Ashley Harris Whaley, Director of Communities and Engagement, Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of CPF, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program, focusses on the terms "ableism" and "allyship" and ways to facilitate making connections in the schools and communities.
This webinar with Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of Cerebral Palsy Foundation, Ashley Harris Whaley, Director of Communities and Engagement, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program.This video series is a partnership with the New York City Department of Education and the Cerebral Palsy Foundation "Just Say Hi" Disability Education Curriculum. This series is meant to educate and empower parents of students with diverse needs.
This webinar with Jennifer Lyman, Content Manager for CP Resource and parent of a teen son with with CP, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program. This webinar aims to help parents adapt and support academic success and participation at school and in the community.
This webinar with Ashley Harris Whaley, Director of Communities and Engagement, Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of CPF, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program. It It aims to provide an overview of disability history and laws.
This webinar with Jacqueline Wentworth, Pediatric Occupational Therapist and individual with with CP, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program. This webinar aims to help parents adapt and support academic success at home.
Complex Rehabilitation Technology serves to enhance the lives of individuals who utilize it with the goals of maximizing health, wellbeing, participation and independence.
The Cerebral Palsy Foundation has created a factsheet to help guide you in understanding and treating pain with CP. This fact sheet has been created for individuals with cerebral palsy to provide basic guidance surrounding common causes and potential treatment of pain.
Many people do not know the difference between SSI and SSDI. It can be very confusing for a family or individual to understand what is available, and whether they will qualify. Very often, the recipients and their families do not even know which benefits they are receiving. But it is important to understand some basic information about government benefits. This post will focus on the two most common government benefits and give you a brief overview of how they work.
In 2014 the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act was passed. The ABLE account is a tax-advantaged savings account for individuals with disabilities. The individual with the disability is the account owner and anyone can contribute to the account – the account beneficiary, family, friends, even a Special Needs Trust.
Drooling is an important problem for many individuals with CP and there are a number of interventions available to treat symptoms. If an individual with CP or their caregiver have concerns about drooling it is important to discuss with a health care provider. Care pathways such as the AACPDM pathway can be a starting point for shared decision making. In all cases, working together as a team is important in choosing the best alternative. Children and adults with CP may have trouble with drooling, or saliva management. In the medical world, drooling is referred to as sialorrhea. Saliva plays an important role in eating but also can interfere with airway clearance and breathing, as well as social participation. When drooling has this kind of impact it becomes important to consider intervention.
A person’s gait is dependent on the interaction between the nervous, musculoskeletal, and cardiorespiratory systems and has many influences.
An international study recently published in the journal Nature Genetics has provided the first firm evidence that for a substantial number of people, their cerebral palsy (CP) may be caused by a genetic mutation, or mis-spelling in the body’s DNA blueprint.
Cerebral Palsy can be described by the way it affects movement and motor function, the part of the body affected and by how severe the impact is.
For some the day-to-day problems faced by children and adults with cerebral palsy, and their carers, are not motor ones alone. It is important that you discuss other areas of your child's development if you have concerns.
It has been scientifically proven that enriched environment can help children with CP gain new skills in their movement but also their thinking and communication skills.
There are some medical conditions or events that can happen during pregnancy, delivery, or shortly thereafter that may increase a baby's risk of being born with cerebral palsy.
Diagnosing cerebral palsy (CP) at an early age is important for the long-term outcome of children and their families.
