August 25, 2007
Free, or next to Free Speech Therapy for Children with Cerebral Palsy- Blow Bubbles!
#1 on the list- Blowing Bubbles!
Yes, this is one of the most effective things you can to to develop muscles needed for speech. You use the same muscles to blow bubbles as you do to form sounds in speech.
Here is cheap and easy bubble recipe :
Bubble Recipe
1/2 cup of dish washing liquid (Dawn or Joy)
2 cups of water
2 teaspoons of sugar
Add your choice of food coloring if you like.
Here is more information about cerebral palsy therapies.
July 18, 2007
Hippotherapy- More Than Just Horseplay
An exceptional article in Washington Post about Hippotherapy and cerebral palsy. If you need financial help getting this treatment for your child, please call us at 1-800-4MyChild or contact one of our online 4MyChild Care Specialists now.
By Eliza McGraw
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, July 17, 2007; Page HE01
One spring Saturday morning in Great Falls, occupational therapist Colleen Zanin prepares for a day of treating clients. Instead of assembling floor mats and exercise balls, however, she is checking the halter of a tall gray horse named Traveler.
Three-year-old Zachary Hoffman is Zanin’s first client of the day. He arrives crying because he had to leave his bagel behind, but once on horseback he’s happy and responsive, looking directly at Zanin and reaching for Traveler’s mane. During his session, Zanin has Zachary ride backward, hang rings on a post and give Traveler voice commands.
Zachary, who has low muscle tone, developmental delays and problems with sensory integration, is one of a growing number of participants in hippotherapy, which uses the natural movements of the horse as a tool for physical, occupational and sometimes speech therapy.
While people such as Zanin and Sharalyn Hoffman, Zachary’s mother, have no doubt that these sessions help Zachary, hippotherapy is rarely covered by health insurance, partly because it does not lend itself to the kind of statistical evaluation that measures more conventional medical treatment.
Nonetheless, it is sought out by people who believe that riding a horse can bring psychological as well as physical benefits.
Read more information on hippotherapy treatment for cerebral palsy.
July 17, 2007
New Virtual Technology Helps Rehab Kids with Cerebral Palsy
Simulations Allow Disabled Children To Improve Balance, Have Fun
(CBS) NEW YORK Morgan Chisolm, a 6-year-old cerebral palsy patient, is getting a big boost in her physical therapy, with a new system that makes her sessions fun and productive.
Chisolm, born three months premature, suffered a broken blood vessel in infancy, which left her with cerebral palsy. The illness, Morgan noticed, has made her different from others around her.
“The way God made me — there’s a problem.” she said. “With my legs, they don’t work like other people.”
“She’s not able to balance like you and I,” said Jennifer Chisolm, Morgan’s mother. “Her feet do move, not perfectly, but you know those muscles in her abdomen are just not coming in, so she just can’t balance.”
Thanks to some technological advancements, Morgan is participating in a unique form of physical therapy that has improved her balancing skills without her even noticing.
A new form of chroma-key technology uses a green screen (similar to TV weather forecasts) to place children inside their video games, allowing them to downhill ski, kick a soccer ball and score a touchdown from their own living rooms.
To read the entire story visit here. For more information about cerebral palsy treatments and therapies.
July 12, 2007
Possible Causes: Stress Linked To Cerebral Palsy
PARIS, July 12 Chronic mild stress in pregnant mothers may increase the risk that their offspring will develop cerebral palsy, according to a French study in mice.
Dr. Pierre Gressens, of France’s Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, used a mouse model to test whether exposure to minimal but repeated stress throughout gestation would make the offspring more vulnerable to brain lesions similar to those observed in children with cerebral palsy.
In the study, the scientists adjusted the normal cycle of light and dark that the pregnant mice were accustomed to for half of the mice, subjecting them to a mild level of stress. Then the researchers exposed the brains of the developing fetuses to injury.
When the brains of the young mice were examined on birth, Gressens and his team found that the offspring born from stressed mothers showed brain lesions about twice as big as those in offspring of unstressed mothers, according to the study published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
Find out more information about causes of cerebral palsy.
July 3, 2007
Cerebral Palsy: Papaya Enzyme to Help Drooling
Try Papaya Extract. You can buy this at any health food store, drug store, GNC and even some Wal-Marts or Target. It is often used to treat heartburn but some physiotherapist recommend trying it to help reduce drooling.
The capsules are very sweet and candy like. Follow direction on bottle for dosage.
June 24, 2007
Good Article on Success of Therasuit
The Therasuit is gaining more and more popularity as a treatment for cerebral palsy. The article below chronicles one child’s progress using the suit.
Hope springs eternal for
cerebral palsy patientsBy Johanna M. Sampan
Patients using the TheraSuit have shown a
94-percent improvement
in fine and gross motor skills, while speech
productivity and fluency is noted in 64 percent.My eldest brother, JS, is a teacher for special children. Day after day he shares the classroom with them and treat them like any other ordinary kid in school. But of course, he treats them with more patience and understanding. He always tells me that teaching the kids bring him mixed emotions of joy, fulfillment and sometimes helplessness because he can’t be there for all of them at the same time as a teacher. He also shares that he has so much love and respect for the parents of these special children who continue to show selflessness and unconditional love and affection.
Read the entire article. Find more information about the Therasuit for Cerebral Palsy.
May 27, 2007
Causes of Cerebral Palsy: Link Between Cerebral Palsy and Herpes Virus
South Australian research which found a link between cerebral palsy and exposure to herpes viruses has been recognised as among the most significant of the past year by an international panel of neuroscientists.
Work by the South Australian Cerebral Palsy Research Group, a joint initiative of the University of Adelaide and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, is included in the latest progress report of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, which highlights the top findings in brain research.
The research, which was earlier published in the British Medical Journal, supports the theory that exposure to certain viral infections shortly before and after birth can trigger brain damage and the development of cerebral palsy.
The study involved 443 children with cerebral palsy and 883 control babies born to Caucasian mothers between 1986 and 1999. Small dried blood samples taken within a few days of birth were used to test for the presence of neurotropic viruses, a group of viruses including the herpes virus, which can all cross the placenta and infect the fetus.
Exposure to viral infection was common in all newborn babies, especially in preterm babies, implying that infection before birth may also be linked to preterm delivery. Herpes group B viruses were found more often in babies who were later diagnosed with cerebral palsy than in control babies. In fact, the risk of cerebral palsy was nearly doubled with exposure to herpes group B viruses.
“This is the first study to positively link viral exposure during pregnancy with cerebral palsy,” Dr Gibson said. “However, only a few of the fetuses that were exposed developed CP, and this suggests that some are more genetically susceptible. We are investigating this.” Further studies also are investigating the possible causes of the link.
If you think your baby was exposed to herpes virus and developed cerebral palsy please contact 4MyChild Care Specialists for help. Read more about the causes of cerebral palsy in children.
May 24, 2007
Special Needs and Cerebral Palsy: Using A Creepster Crawler to Help with Crawling
Many physiotherapists will suggest using an aid to help a young child with cerebral palsy or other conditions that impair head control in learning to crawl. Products like the Creepster Crawler help children without head control, or who can’t roll over or crawl, to develop mobility. A device like this comes with a hefty price tag, over $500.00.
Items like these are much sought after in the second hand market. Many moms will sell their used ones or even donate. If you have any gently used adaptive equipment or are looking for adaptive equipment for you special needs child, such as the Creepster Crawler- please post in our Buy, Sell and Trade Equipment Classifieds
If you have a child with cerebral palsy and you are not sure of you are eligible for Benefits for Life or want to see if you can get your adaptive equipment for free, please contact one of our Care Specialists. They can answer questions and concerns you may have.
Find more help with adaptive equipment for children with cerebral palsy.
May 12, 2007
Swimming as Cure for Cerebral Palsy?
This article from swimnews.com tells of the story of Susie Maroney, a world champion swimmer, who was born with cerebral palsy.
Maroney Beat Cerebral Palsy Through Swimming
May 11, 2007 Craig Lord
Susie Maroney, the Australian open water medallist who holds the fastest time ever for a double crossing of the English Channel, today revealed that she and her twin brother were born with cerebral palsy but fought the condition and won using swimming as their biggest medical weapon.
Now 32, Maroney told Australian reporters that she had kept the condition a secret in her youth for fear of being ridiculed.
“You’d be winning at a school swimming carnival but you’d still get picked on. So I’ve never talked about it,” says the swimmer in a widely reported magazine article.
Maroney and her twin brother Sean were taken to learn to swim by their parents when they were just six months old, specifically to help to combat the condition. Sean died when he accidentally fell from a 26th floor balcony while training for a triathlon in Hawaii in June 2002, that tragedy effectively ending Maroney’s career as a world-class long-distance swimmer.
Visit http://www.swimnews.com/News/displayStory.jhtml?id=5281 to read the entire article. Find out how swimming can help with cerebral palsy.
April 6, 2007
Online Therapy For Cerebral Palsy: Project ULTrA
Upper Limb Training for Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy Online
University of Michigan kinesiology department is offering therapy for adults and teenagers with cerebral palsy- online!
Called Project ULTrA (Upper Limb Training and Assessment), the program allows therapy to take place in front of a computer screen using streamed video and works on upper limb strength, flexibility and movement. The software uses virtual trainers AS WELL AS real-life experts at the Motor Control Lab to complete movement-based therapy programs. The program also collects data to determine how well the in-home therapy is working.
If you wold like more information about Project ULTrA you can contact
Colleen Lewis, Ph. D.
Laboratory Phone: (734)-763-5829
E-mail: ultra@umich.edu
Postal Address
The Division of Kinesiology
University of Michigan
401 Washtenaw Ave.
Ann Arbor , MI , 48109-2214
website: http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2007/hmultra.htm
