The Truth About Cerebral Palsy

As you watch your child a few months after birth, you may notice that they have a special way of doing everything: eating, walking, and even getting your attention. Some babies have trouble balancing when they stand up or are prone to irregular jerks and twitches. If your child experiences these, watch them a bit more closely as they grow because these symptoms may be the first stages of chronic, but treatable, brain disorders called cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy refers to difficulty with the motor skills part of the brain, which controls both general and coordinated movement. Often, patients with cerebral palsy are slow reaching important development milestones like sitting up, crawling, rolling over, and walking. This can lead to difficulty with fine motor skills in childhood like writing or holding things and may include seizures as well as mental impairment.

Cerebral palsy has several causes both, genetic and accidental. Head injuries in the early stages of childhood, jaundice and rubella (German measles) are a few diseases that cerebral palsy is generally attributed to. Additionally, a medical history of cerebral palsy can also increase the likelihood within your family.

There are treatments for cerebral palsy, which vary depending on the type of difficulty. Speech and behavioral therapy usually involves counseling to help a child catch up on important motor skills and many medications are available to control seizures and irregular movement. Special braces may also be used to correct for muscle imbalance, depending on what your doctor prescribes.

Science is working every day to find the exact cause of cerebral palsy. Researchers have identified certain genetic patterns between patients with cerebral palsy that could one day lead to a cure. Also, new medicines are being developed to help with brain injuries during childbirth and early adolescence.

There are many support groups and organizations that offer help in dealing with cerebral palsy. United Cerebral Palsy is an organization that provides lots of helpful information about coping with cerebral palsy in children while the March of Dimes Foundation coordinates efforts to raise money for cerebral palsy research. You can learn more about these organizations by visiting their websites at http://www.ucp.org and http://www.marchofdimes.com/