Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is the most common cause of physical disability.  It is a complex group of related conditions.  CP takes a variety of forms and can vary widely in the degree to which it affects individual ability.  Almost certainly, you have individuals in your school who have this condition.  They can be identified as being gifted and talented or as having severe multiple disabilities.  Unfortunately, you can still find people with this condition who are denied the opportunity to achieve their maximum potential because of their appearance. As you learn about cerebral palsy, remember to reflect on how problems of motor skill frequently determine how other perceive us.  The first five links will give you a wealth of information, but as you will see, because of numerous physical, social, psychological, educational, personal, and family factors, cerebral palsy can keep people engaged for a life time.

1. NICHCY- General Info About Cerebral Palsy  General information about Cerebral Palsy including definition, incidence, characteristics, educational implications, and a list of resources.
2. Children's Medical , at University of Virginia has an excellent online Cerebral Palsy Tutorial for Children and Parents.  Just click on the links on the left side of the screen to go through the tutorial  http://www.med.virginia.edu/cmc/tutorials/cp/cp.htm
3. United Cerebral Palsy - UCPnet  The United Cerebral Palsy Association is the major organization in the field.  It provides education and research services to people with disabilities, their families, the public and other organizations. http://www.ucpa.org/main.cfm/176
4. Living with cerebral palsy is A newspaper story about Paul Pecunas, a young man living in a small city in Pennsylvania.  The story is part of his web site, which among other things shows how one person can affect the awareness of a whole community.  http://www.toolcity.net/~coonster/home/article/index.html
5. The Story on Cerebral Palsy from TeensHealth! TeensHealth was created for teens looking for honest, accurate information and advice about health, relationships, and growing up.  Created by The Nemours Foundation's for Children's Health Media, TeensHealth provide teens and families with accurate, up-to-date, and jargon-free health information they can use.

Additional Information

The stories of other people with cerebral palsy and their families

§         Taryn's World  http://www.tarynsworld.org/taryn/index.htm
Taryn has created a wonderful site for visitors to learn more about physical disabilities and how adapted switches can assist those with special needs.

*ACTIVITY*   Your assignment for each of these sections is to keep a notebook in which you will answer the following questions.  When you are done with this unit, show your notebook to your teacher.  You should be ready for the quiz.  The topics in you notebook should be: What are the essential elements in the definition of this condition? (Can you explain this condition to your parents or classmates in a way they would understand it?) How is it different from other conditions?  (What is unique about this condition; for example, how is spina bifida different from cerebral palsy?) Are there different forms of this condition? (What kind of variation will you see in people with this condition—do professionals have names or terms they use to describe this variation?) What do we know about what causes this condition? What are the difficulties a person with this condition is likely to encounter in school and in day-to-day life in the community? What are some supports that will assist a person with this condition?  (How would you answer someone if that person asked you to offer some ideas about things they could do to help a person with this condition? What is at least one major organization that is a good source of information about this condition? Can you list at least three major issues (problems, controversies, etc) related to this condition? Finally, what are the major myths or misconceptions (list at least 3) that people have about people with this condition and what are some things you could do to show others the error of their beliefs?