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.
On this episode I talk with two of the world’s leading researchers… Dr. Madison Paton and Dr. Iona Novak on stem cell treatment for cerebral palsy. Stem Cells have been a hot topic in Cerebral Palsy for at least 15 years now, with many parents and researchers hoping that at the least, stem cells will lessen the impact of CP and at most hold the key to a cure. Dr. Paton and Dr. Novak will share their insider knowledge into this subject and help us sort through the hype and so we can hold onto our hope.
On this episode with Dr. Amy Bailes, we discuss the Gross Motor Functional Classification System (the GMFCS), the Gross Motor Functional Measure (the GMFM), and the corresponding motor curves. The GMFCS is an important classification system that is relatively easy to understand and it helps create a shared language and framework for understanding a person with CP’s physical function. This can be very helpful for patients, families and providers of all sorts, especially as it relates to both and acceptance and understanding of the diagnosis and family-centered shared decision making.
In this episode, Mary Gannotti, PhD, PT, discusses fitness, health and function across the lifespan for individuals with cerebral palsy.
In this first episode, listeners will meet the host, Jen, learn about her background, her son, Bower, and the reason for creating this podcast. Enjoy!
This podcast is a place for conversations with experts about issues related to cerebral palsy that affect health, fitness, function and participation. We will cover a range of topics including: treatments and therapies, nutrition, neuroplasticity, genetics, exercise and fitness, adaptive sports, accessibility, and new trends.
Neuroplasticity is the ability that the brain has to form new connections between different cells or between different areas of the brain.
The typical cognitive assessments that are used for children require them to be able to use their hands to point to pictures or hold puzzle pieces.
As a parent, when it comes to different types of interventions for infants with cerebral palsy, how do you know what you have, what you don't, and what you could get?
Exploration for an infant means discovering anything about that environment. If that infant needs an opportunity to be brought to them, that's okay. Let an infant explore through their senses, whether it's touch, or smell, or taste, or sight, or hearing.
For a child with CP learning to move, the really important things to remember are that the child should always be active.
My name is Nathalie Maitre, I work at Nationwide Children's Hospital. I'm a physician and a researcher
Diagnosing cerebral palsy (CP) at an early age is important for the long-term outcome of children and their families.
Early diagnosis of cerebral palsy (CP) is critical in obtaining evidence-based interventions when plasticity is greatest.
As a physician and researcher, I skeptically looked forward to learning more about mindfulness practice, because there is evidence it helps with stress management, self-regulation, focus, productivity and happiness. As a mom, I felt that weird mix of guilt that I was going to focus on “not-my-children” for a whole day, excited anticipation and anxiety that maybe I would be a complete failure at this. It turns out all the mental baggage I took into the workshop was the exact opposite of what mindfulness tries to achieve. The daily practice has since changed my life.
"If you don’t know the solution to the problem now, you will find it"
PTSD can be common in parents after a child with Cerebral Palsy has left the NICU. One of the hardest days of my life as a NICU parent was not what I would have expected it to be. It was the day I went home without my baby, after spending every waking moment since my emergency C-section by his incubator. I never knew I had a dream about what it would be like to have a baby until that dream was taken away.