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How Long Is Cerebral Palsy?

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Walking into a classroom with the task to identify the student or students with cerebral palsy can be difficult. Cerebral palsy is a group of chronic disorders that involve various degrees of brain damage with an effect on body control and movements. The term cerebral refers to the brain, whereas palsy refers to impairments in the control of the body. Since cerebral palsy is such a wide range of disorders it is difficult to identify cerebral palsy; it is not a cut and dry disability. Cerebral palsy, also known as CP, cannot be cured, it is not contagious, it is not a disease and it does not get worse for the person. Cerebral palsy is a disability that people live with every day but the amount of information in not prevalent.
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The authors look at how the term cerebral palsy needs to be rejected, refined and then finally recovered. Overall the questions surrounding the term cerebral palsy is, is there really one such thing as CP? Through the thinking behind the history of CP, the conclusion was made that the term is an umbrella term for a group but it is not just one disease. This then leads into the refined aspect of the article because the authors discuss “Thus, we feel (seriously) reluctant to give up the term entirely, although we clearly subscribe to the view that CP is not one disease” (Dammann & Kuban, 2007). With that being said, the information behind the diagnosis of CP needs to be refined and thought , “…is there a way to make the definition (and thereby, the diagnosis) more homogeneous and more meaningful?...” (Dammann & Kuban, 2007). Without looking more into the definition and classification, “…the current classification recommendations are likely to diminish descriptive precision, which will, in turn, lead to oversimplification of different CP forms, make it more difficult to compare research study populations, and make discussions with parents about prognosis and potential comorbidities more difficult” (Dammann & Kuban, 2007). Since CP is an umbrella term for a group of various neuromotor impairments, it is important to continue research. However, “Advances in evidence-based approaches to clinical care have…been slow in CP which has led to gaps in services and to opportunities to decrease morbidity, improve quality of life, and provide cost-effective care being missed” (Aisen, Kerkovich, Mast, Mulroy Wren, Kay, & Rethlefsen, 2011). These delays have been due to the differences between

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