If your child has been diagnosed with CP, you’ll want to make sure you have good information moving forward. Here are three facts about CP that you might not have known.
1: It’s a Group of Disorders
Contents
CP is actually a group of disorders. They have different symptoms. Dyskinetic cerebral palsy, for instance, has some differences with ataxic cerebral palsy, though they both share the same origins. It may not be immediately clear what types of cerebral palsy that your child suffers with. Quite often, people with CP have the symptoms of several different types of the disorder, so your physician will have to help you reach a better understanding of what your child suffers with and how it will affect them throughout life.
2: Cognitive Impairments Are Not Givens
There are people with CP who have very minor cognitive impairments and, in some cases; people with CP don’t suffer any cognitive impairment at all. Your child’s condition will have to be assessed through testing and other means to determine how much cognitive impairment they suffer, if any. In some cases, children have very severe cognitive impairments and may need specific treatments to deal with them. In other cases, they may end up becoming doctors or lawyers and excelling beyond their peers intellectually and academically.
3: It’s Not Reversible
CP is the result of birth injuries or injuries suffered soon after birth. These injuries are to the brain and, thus, they cannot be reversed or repaired. The symptoms, however, can be treated. There are constantly new advances being made in the treatment of cerebral palsy symptoms and you may find that your child will have access to quite a few new medical treatments that could make the spasms, difficulties walking and other symptoms of these disorders much less severe.
Cerebral palsy can vary tremendously in severity. What’s important is that your child gets the right treatment for their needs and that you keep appraised of how that treatment may need to change and evolve as your child ages. In some cases, your child’s symptoms may increase or decrease in severity as they get older, so be prepared for changes. Of course, you’ll have all of the other things that parents look forward to as their children grow up ahead of you, as well, so there’s plenty of good times ahead, no matter what challenges your child may have to deal with.