Cerebral Palsy

1. Cerebral Palsy By Robin Hill Mrs. Rooney/Ms. Scheetz B-11 Multi-Media Research Project

2. What is Cerebral Palsy? • Cerebral palsy is a condition that affects the brain’s ability to control the muscles. This happens before or during birth, or sometimes during the early years of life. • Cerebral palsy has many different levels. Sometimes it causes people to have a limp, while others have to be confined to a wheelchair. • The general definition is a movement and posture disorder resulting from non-progressive brain damage. • A lot of people in the world might have CP, it’s just that you don’t realize it.

3. How Do You get It? • You might be wondering, “Can I get cerebral palsy today?”The truth is, no, you can’t. • Cerebral palsy is caused by either brain damage when your brain is still developing, or your brain not growing properly. So, this results in a condition called cerebral palsy. This makes it hard for you to control your muscles. • CP just doesn’t make it hard to control your muscles. Depending on the severity of the brain damage when you were a baby, you can also get ADHD, seizures, and be mentally disabled.

4. How Does Brain Damage Cause Cerebral Palsy? • As I mentioned in the last slide, cerebral palsy is commonly caused by brain development failure or brain damage. • Neurological Damage: While a baby is growing, the mother might abuse alcohol or an illegal drug such as cocaine. The drug goes into the mother’s bloodstream and the baby suffers damage to his/her central nervous system and the brain. This is the same with infections such as rubella, toxoplasmosis, and cytomegalovirus. • Babies who are born prematurely (early) have a higher risk of having CP than a full-term (regular) baby because premature babies can have internal bleeding in the brain, which causes brain damage, which results in CP.

5. How Does Brain Damage Cause Cerebral Palsy? (Cont.) • Developmental Malformations: When a baby is still growing, the brain is supposed to develop in a certain way. Sometimes, an unknown element disrupts this process. When this happens, the baby’s brain might not have enough cells or the cells do not communicate properly with one another. Doctors don’t know why this happens.

6. What Types Of Cerebral Palsy Are there? • There are many variations of cerebral palsy, and no two people have the same type. • Cerebral palsy falls into three different categories. 1. Pyramidal (spastic) CP; 2. Extrapyramidal (choreo-athetiod) CP; 3. Mixed-type CP

7. What is Pyramidal Cerebral Palsy? • This type of cerebral palsy is the most common type of the condition. • This affects eighty percent of all children with CP. • The parts of the brain that are damaged are the ones that control voluntary movement: the motor cortex and the pyramidal tracts. • There are one or more tight muscle areas where movement is limited. 1. Ankle clonus: When the calf muscles are stretched by holding the foot upwards and the muscles move in a rhythm that can be seen. 2. Persistent primitive reflexes: Early reflexes that stay longer than normal. 3. Positive Babinski: When the toes fan out rather than flex when the foot is stroked from heel to toe. 4. Tendency to develop contractues: An irregular shortening of muscles and joints. 5. Exaggerated stretch reflexes: Reflexes that overextend much faster and stronger than normal.

8. What Is Extrapyramidal Cerebral Palsy? • Only ten percent of kids have this type of CP. • This type of CP is caused by damage at the cerebellum at the base of the brain, or the basal ganglia, at the center of the brain. • This causes jerky, uncoordinated movements in the face, arms, and upper body. This makes it hard to eat, speak, reach, and grasp. • Children also have low muscle tone, which causes posture problems with sitting and walking. • These are the types of involuntary movements: 1. Dystonia: slow, twisting movements of the torso or an arm or leg. 2. Athetosis: Slow, wiggling movements of the face, fingers, and wrists. 3. Chorea: Quick, jerky movements of the neck, arm, head, or legs. 4. Ataxia: lack of coordination in standing and balance. Usually caused by damage to the cerebellum. 5. Rigidity: Super high muscle tone with very limited movements. 6. Dyskinesia: The general term for involuntary movement.

9. What Is Mixed-Type Cerebral Palsy? • There are ten percent of children who have mixed-type CP. • This means that the kid has the other two types of CP: pyramidal and extrapyramidal. • This happens because the child suffers from injures to the cerebellum, basal ganglia, motor cortex, and the pyramidal tracts. • Usually, the spasticity (tight muscles that limit movement) is very obvious at first, then the involuntary movements kick in as the kid gets older.

10. Graph Of Cerebral Palsy Types

11. How Many Americans Have Cerebral Palsy? • About 500,000 Americans have the same degree of cerebral palsy. • Every 2 out of 2,000 babies that are born have cerebral palsy. • Every year, 1,200 to 1,500 preschoolers are diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

12. What Famous People Have cerebral Palsy? • There are many celebrities who have CP. Some of them are, • Geri Jewell (comedian and actress) • Susie Maroney (world record holding marathon swimmer) • Jerry Traylor (motivational speaker) • Stephen Hopkins (signed the Declaration ofIndependence)

13. Who Discovered Cerebral Palsy? • Doctor William John Little (1810-1894) was the first to put a name to cerebral palsy. He diagnosed CP as “brain damage by an oxygen deprivation to the brain during birth”. • Sir William Osler (1849-1928) wrote the first book about cerebral palsy and first used the word “cerebral palsy”. • Sigmund Freud (1895-1939) was first to discover the whole spectrum of problems associated with CP.

14. Conditions Associated With Cerebral palsy • There are a lot of conditions that can develop if you have cerebral palsy, such as… • Epilepsy (seizures) • Mental disability (IQ below 70) • Hearing loss (deafness) • Vision loss (blindness, cataracts) • Paralysis (paralyzed parts of the body)

15. What Are Muscle Tones? • There are two types of muscle tones associated with cerebral palsy, high muscle tone and low muscle tone. This helps doctors determine what type of CP the person might have. 1. High muscle tone: This is when the muscles are extremely tight and tense. This can also confine you to a wheelchair. 2. Low muscle tone: This is when the muscles are floppy and loose. This makes it hard for you to hold your head up and move. A person with this might have to be in a wheel chair.

16. Inspirational Story: pageant Winner • Abbey Curran competed in the Miss USA pageant in 2008. She was the first girl to compete with cerebral palsy. She lives in northwestern Illinois. She has entered many pageants and lost before, but then won Miss Iowa, and in 2008 competed in Miss USA. She became inspired to compete in pageants because a teacher told her to “be realistic” and don’t even try because of her leg braces and CP.

17. Inspirational Story: Horseback Rider • Aimee Sawyer of California has had cerebral palsy since birthand was predicted to never walk, or even survive her first night. But she did, and is an expert horse rider. She was riding horses by age three and barrel racing by age eleven. Today, she is an accomplished barrel racer at age seventeen.

18. Inspirational Story: Long-Distance Running racer • Athlete Dick Hoyt has a son named Rick, who has CP. Together, the two “run” in marathons and triathlons by Dick pushing a specially equipped wheelchair for Rick. Dick Hoyt is about seventy, and Rick is about fifty. They have done this for over thirty-five years and participated in over 1,000 races. People call them “Team Hoyt” and cheer them on, even if they finish last.

19. Conclusion • While cerebral palsy causes a wide range of disabilities, people make the best of it and try to live long, happy and rewarding lives. • Each case of CP is unique and each person is unique, too. By looking past the wheelchair and acknowledging that people are different, you can help people with disabilities feel accepted. Like everyone else, they can be happy even with this condition. People are still people, even if they’re a little different.

20. Sources Books Peacock, Judith, Cerebral Palsy, Capstone Press, 2000 Baron, Connie, The Physically Disabled, Crestwood House, Inc., 1988 Geralis, Elaine, Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Parent’s Guide: Second Edition, Woodbine House, Inc., 1998 Miller, Freeman, M.D., Cerebral Palsy: A Complete Guide For Caregiving, The John Hopkins University Press, 1995 Magazine/Newspaper Cotliar, Sharon, “Beauty Queen-With Cerebral Palsy”, People, 4-21-2008, Pages 91-92 Smith, Gary, “The Wheels Of Life”, Sports Illustrated, 4-18-2011, Pages 56-66 Woody, Pam, “Against All Odds” Horse & Rider, October 2011, Pages 18-19 Online Sources Bachrach, Steven J., M.D., April 2009, “Cerebral Palsy”, http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/brain/cerebral_palsy.html#, 5-22-12 Bachrach, Steven J. M.D., April 2009, “Cerebral Palsy”, http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/brain/cerebral_palsy.html#, 5-21-12 familydoctor.org editorial staff, July 2006, “Cerebral Palsy Overview”, http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/cerebral-palsy.html, 4-13-12 Lava, Neil, M.D. March 8, 2012, “Understanding Cerebral Palsy-The Basics”, http://www.webmd.com/brain/understanding-cerebral-palsy-basic-information?page=2 , 5-22-12