I began thinking about this in regards to CP Awareness Day a bit differently. If we think about even the name, Cerebral Palsy Awareness, there are so many things I imagine you would like others to be aware of, as caregivers and Cerebral Palsy warriors. What does awareness mean to each of us, personally?
In 2025, there are thousands of reels, social media accounts and testaments to the badassery that is required to live with CP. And though the world still has a long way to go, the pride, wholeness and strength of this community never ceases to amaze me.
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.
Cynthia Frisina discusses the purpose and importance of Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month and Day to bring people together to advocate for better healthcare, research advancements, funding and more those with CP and their families.
People with disabilities represent more than 27% of the United States adult population, making them the single largest minority group in the country. This new NIH designation, new research program and update to NIH mission are actions to ensure inclusion of people with disabilities.
This study tested the safety and effectiveness of a neuroscience-based, multi-component intervention designed to improve motor skills and sensory processing of the more-affected arm and hand in infants with CP where one side is more impacted than the other (asymmetric CP).
Dr. Nathalie Maitre discusses the CPF Early Detection and Intervention Network and helps us to understand how babies learn, how CP impacts the developing brain, and early intervention strategies that can help.
The 2023 Appropriations Act has passed and thanks to advocacy by the cerebral palsy community, it includes the strongest language and funding yet for cerebral palsy!
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Christina Smallwood talk about parenting, raising a child with cerebral palsy and helping her learn to advocate for herself.
On Thursday, March 24th, 2022, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation hosted the first ever Cerebral Palsy Congressional Briefing with a panel of physicians, patient and self advocates.
Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the infant brain. This damage can involve not only the motor parts of the brain, but also the parts that deal with vision. This is not related to damage to the eye but is related to damage of the parts of the brain that process visual information.
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.
"Cerebral palsy is primarily a motor impairment so it's really important to look at what the child’s motor function is. Are they developing on the trajectory of a child who has cerebral palsy or are they developing as we would expect a baby to develop? "
Babies develop about 80% of their brain growth over the first two years of life, and it's also when all the connections in the brain, what we call the white matter, which is the cables in the brain, grow and develop and connect to the cortex.
Receiving early diagnoses or high‐risk for CP classification is a parent priority. Alignment between parents and providers exists for International Classification of Function domains of body functions/structures and activity, but less for those of environment, personal, and participation.