Cerebral Palsy

Besides the different forms of therapies, other treatments for cerebral palsy are sometimes employed. These may include surgery and the use of mechanical aids.

Surgery

Sometimes, when muscles are so tight or contracted that they cause severe movement problems, physicians recommend surgery to correct the problem. What a surgeon does is lengthen the muscles and tendons that are too short and tight in order to try and correct the movement problems.

Mechanical aids

Mechanical aids are special tools, devices, or equipment that people with cerebral palsy might use to help them get around and overcome their particular limitations. These mechanical aids might be anything from a special fork to sophisticated computerized communication devices. Some examples of mechanical aids:

• Adapted silverware and pencils. These are made with special handles or grips, and can be very helpful for someone who has difficulty holding on to small things.
• Communication aids. When a person with CP has speech difficulties, it may be easier for him or her to use a communication aid to talk with others. A communication aid might be a book or a poster that has pictures that show things the person might want, or it might be an alphabet board that can be used to spell out a message.
• Wheelchairs. Wheelchairs allow people with CP who cannot walk, or who have a lot of trouble walking, the ability to move from place to place. Many people with CP can use their arms just fine to roll the wheels of their wheelchairs themselves. Other types of wheelchairs have motors that push the wheels around. A motorized wheelchair has a handle or joystick on it that lets the person using it stop, start, and steer the chair.
• Computers. There are so many things that are available today that can assist people with speech and movement problems to use computers to communicate! There are touch screens, special mouses, and even pointers that fit around the forehead for people who can't use a regular mouse to control the operation of a computer. There are special keyboards with extra large keys, and there are keyboards and special software programs that are created for a person who uses only one hand, or one finger. There are software programs that help people with little or no control of their movement to dial and speak on the phone, or to type only the first couple of letters of a word and then have the computer “predict” what the rest of the word will be! There are also communication aids that can talk for a person by “reading” aloud whatever the person types into the computer.

Sinead, age fifteen, says:

Having CP has given me some really odd and amazing talents. I don't have much movement in my arms or legs, but I can do amazing things with my head! People stand and watch me, and their mouths hang open! I kind of like that. It bugs them out!

I use a power wheelchair and I drive it with my head. The switches to control it are behind me, in the seat. All I have to do to go straight is push my head back; and if I want to go right or left, I turn my head right or left. And there's a switch that I hit with the back of my head to go in reverse.

For my computer, I have a special touch screen and a headband that I wear that has a rod stick ing out of it. I'm like a typing unicorn! I move my head forward to touch the screen with the rod and WHAM —I can work a Windows menu and all the commands, or a dozen other special software programs. I can also lean my head down over the keyboard and tap away at the keys. It's a different perspective, but it gets the job done!