Association of Speech Therapists in Private Practice
Speech Therapy
 

Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy is an umbrella term for a group of persistent disorders of posture and movement caused by damage to the immature brain. It is non-progressive, but associated complications may occur later. The physical impairment resulting from the initial damage can vary from mild to very severe. Cerebral Palsy can affect walking, feeding, talking, and hand use. Sometimes other parts of the brain are also affected which may lead to difficulties with hearing, sight, perception, or learning skills.

There are three main types of Cerebral Palsy which correspond to injuries to different parts of the brain. Physical difficulties vary accordingly:

  • With Spastic Cerebral Palsy some muscles become very stiff and weak especially with increased effort. This can affect control of movement.
  • With Dystonic or Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy (Athetoid Cerebral Palsy) there will be some loss of control of posture, and a person affected with this type of Cerebral Palsy tends to make unwanted movements. Children may drool.
  • With Ataxic Cerebral Palsy (Ataxia) there are usually problems with balance. People may also have shaky hand movements and irregular speech. This form occurs less frequently.
  • With Mixed Cerebral Palsy there may be symptoms from more than one of the other types.

Recognised characteristics of Cerebral Palsy (which are very variable from mild to severe) can include:

  • Different sorts of abnormal muscle 'tone'.
  • Involvement of one or more limbs.
  • High incidence of speech and communication problems. This includes some people having no speech.
  • Higher incidence of epilepsy compared with the normal population.
  • Higher incidence of sensory impairments (vision or hearing problems) than the normal population.

Speech and language therapists are often involved with multi-professional teams working with Cerebral Palsy. Therapy may begin at birth (particularly if there are feeding difficulties involved) and continue indefinitely. On the other hand Cerebral Palsy may not be diagnosed until the infant fails to achieve the usual developmental milestones (e.g. for sitting, crawling, eating, drinking, speech).

The following may form part of therapy input for people with Cerebral Palsy:

  • Early communication skills, including raising awareness of self and the environment.
  • Information on early play to encourage communication e.g. eye-contact, facial expression, body language.
  • Multi-disciplinary work towards safe feeding, swallowing, and adequate nutrition.
  • Maximising the potential for speech.
  • Multi-disciplinary work towards effective communication using the most appropriate method. The following may be used: speech, signing, communication boards, non-verbal skills, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), 'high tech' communication devices, communication switches.
  • Attention to any particular difficulties parents with a child affected by Cerebral Palsy encounter.
  • Maximising special qualities a child has.

Some points you may wish to discuss with any therapist you contact:

  • The therapist's specialist credentials in the area of Cerebral Palsy.
  • If you are already involved in a special programme (e.g. Bobath, Makaton signing), you may wish to talk to the therapist about that.
  • How much experience the therapist has with Cerebral Palsy.
  • Where the therapist sees people for assessment/therapy.
  • How much the therapist charges for assessment and/or regular therapy.

Click here to search for Speech Therapists in your area with Cerebral Palsy as a specialty.