Katarina never learned how to walk and eventually it stood clear that she probably had minor CP. As her general bodytone was low, the high tone - the spasticity - in her legs did not become obvious until her legs grew stronger; until then the low bodytone that is significant in Down syndrome had hidden the spasticity.
About 1,5 children in a thousand are born each year with CP - Cerebral Palsy - a general term for different injuries occuring before, during or soon after birth. Damage is caused by bleedings in the brain or by severe lack of oxygene or by misshapes of the brain.
Children with CP lacks coordination between different muscle groups, which causes disturbances in the movement-pattern; legs and arms are particularly affected.
Symptoms are dependant of where damage appears and when damage occured. 80 percent of the cases of CP is so called spastic CP that can be divided into four subgroups: Hemiphlegia (one half of body lame, 30% av CP), diphlegia (both parts of body lame legs more than arms, 35% of CP), Atactic diphlegia (diphlegia with loss of balance, 7%) och quadrophlegia (the whole body lame plus one or several other disabilities, 10%).
Apart from the above there is dyskinetic CP meaning unocontrolled movements of body or uncontrolled changes in body tone and CP ataxia meaning low body tone, loss of balance and difficulties coordinating body movements.
More information about CP is at United cerebral palsy and at RBU - Riksförbundet för Rörelsehindrade Barn och Ungdomar (in Swedish).
Konduktiv Pedagogik has information on Conductive Education, a Hungarian method, now spread over the world, for the training of children and adults with CP.
annika_60@hotmail.com
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