Students with disabilities often need extra support throughout the day to access their environment, the academic materials, and learn alongside their peers. A Personal Care Attendant in the school setting is often utilized to support the students needs.

Children and teens with cerebral palsy and other disabilities may need the assistance of an individual who has a background in healthcare and the skills to provide the services essential to quality care.

An employment agreement spells out the rules, rights and responsibilities for both the Personal Care Attendant (the employee) and the individual with cerebral palsy or family who is hiring the Personal Care Attendant.

We got the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy when Lelia was 18 months. I was really happy, as we didn’t know what was wrong with her before then. She had low tone. She couldn’t roll over. She couldn’t sit up. Of course she didn’t walk. The diagnosis gave it a name, something I could work with, and I became a kind of vigilante mother, determined to get the best care for my daughter.

On this episode, I have the honor of talking with Wendy Pierce, MD, a pediatric physiatrist at Colorado Children's Hospital about physiatry, also known as Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. This fantastic field of medicine can be helpful for individuals with cerebral palsy across with lifespan, but it has a confusing name and sometimes a confusing job description. So we set out to help listeners better understand what a physiatrist does.