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Essay on Cerebral palsy

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Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy refers to a group of chronic disorders that involve degrees of brain damage that affect body control and movement. The term cerebral refers to the brain, while palsy describes a disorder that impairs the control of body movement. These disorders are not the result of muscles or nerves problems. Instead, they are due to impaired motor areas in the brain that disrupt its ability to control movement and posture. The condition typically appears within the first few years of life and it is not marked by regression. (Mecham, 1986)
Cerebral Palsy can either be present before birth, can occur during the delivery process, or can even develop up to several years after a child is born. The disorder is most commonly …show more content…

More severe symptoms in children with cerebral palsy may result in basically no muscle control, greatly affecting their lives.” (Cogher, Savage & Smith, 1992)
There are some individuals that suffer a mild cerebral palsy form. Many people do not know that mild cerebral palsy exists because the symptoms of this cerebral palsy form are subtler and mild cerebral palsy patients are able to lead “normal” lives. Since cerebral palsy is caused from brain damage, the severity of the cerebral palsy is dependent upon how much brain damage exists. With mild cerebral palsy, as the name indicates the damage suffered has been minimal.
Sometimes, mild cerebral palsy patients cause other disorders to occur. The way that these disorders affect the mild cerebral palsy individual can be mild or severe, requiring the mild cerebral palsy patient to need more treatment. Since every mild cerebral palsy patient is affected in his/her own way, developing an individualized mild cerebral palsy treatment plan is required.
There are many different types of cerebral palsy. “Types of cerebral palsy are classified by the type of movement problems caused by brain impairment, or by the parts of the body that are affected.” (Mecham, 1986)
The four types of cerebral palsy that indicate motor disability include: spastic, ataxic, athetoid and mixed cerebral palsy. Spastic cerebral palsy causes movements to be stiff or difficult to execute. In these

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