Andrea, Young, Jeff, Kirsten

Cerebral Palsy
Definition: Cerebral palsy (CP) refers to a group of disorders that result from injury to the developing brain, and can
affect movement and muscle coordination.
Depending on which areas of the brain are damaged, CP can cause one or more of the following:
Muscle tightness or spasms
Involuntary movement
Difficulty with gross motor skills such as walking or running
Difficulty with fine motor skills such as writing or doing up buttons
Difficulty with perception and sensation
Individuals with CP may have:
Cognitive
Speech and language disorders
Visual and hearing impairments
Learning disabilities.
The parts of the body that are affected and the severity of impairment can vary widely.
**CP is not progressive, but can seem to change as the child grows.

Underdeveloped motor skills

Slow to reach developmental milestones (rolling over,
sitting, crawling, smiling, walking)
May have high levels of frustration due to trouble
communicating and being misunderstood
Abnormal or vacillating muscle tone
Decreased muscle tone- Hypotonia
Increased muscle tone- Hypertonia (stiff and rigid)
May favour one side of the body or one movement
pattern
Unusual and often awkward posture

May walk on tip toes or may carry arms high in high

guard position for balance
May focus locally on surroundings and not view the
larger play area may demonstrate poor visual
acuity
When under age 3 may demonstrate difficulty with
head control and older may hold head in awkward
position
Possible seizures and tremors often take
medication to reduce frequency

Characteristics
Codes
Mild
Description

Grade

Mild Cognitive disability ECS

Grades 1-12

Code
Code 30
Code 51

Learning disability Grades 1-12

Code 54

Hearing disability ECS

Grades 1-12

Code 30
Code 55

Communication Delay ECS

Code 30

Severe
Description

Grade

Code

Severe Cognitive disability

ALL

Code 41

Severe Physical Medical disability

ALL

Code 44

Severe Delay Involving Language

ECS

Code 47

Andrea, Young, Jeff, Kirsten

Physical or Medical disability ECS
Grades 1-12

Code 30
Code 58

Teaching Strategies
What
Teach all children skills regardless of
their impairment.

How
Modify the activity appropriately to
meet their needs.

Why
Realize that although a CP student
may never become fully able to
conventionally perform a skill, it is still
valuable for them to learn it (eg.
basketball for students in a
wheelchair).

Implement stretch breaks in the

classroom to assist the child with CP
into proper head positioning if
necessary.

Create stretching routines, and as a

teacher be aware of the student with
CPs head positioning so that s/he can
use a normal arc of vision to view the
teacher or activity (check head & neck
alignment).

CP students may have muscular

stiffness, and may have difficulty with
head "righting" (focusing on target) or
orientation.

Talk to the class about cerebral palsy,

and if the child is comfortable with
the situation, have the child or parent
explain any adaptive needs.

Encourage other students to find out

how they can assist and when they
should assist the student with
Cerebral Palsy.

This may help the student with CP to

feel included and welcome in the
classroom. It also gives the rest of the
class a responsibility to including and
accepting them into the community.

85-95% of CP students have a speech

disability and30% have severely
limited speech which cannot be easily
understood. Students and teachers
may use various technologies to help
improve communication.

Some examples of technology which

can be used in the classroom are:

The use of technology to

communicate allows the student with
CP to express themselves to the
teacher and the rest of the class. This
is allow them to build relationships.

i.
ii.
iii.

Digitized Speech Generator

(Chat Box, Liberator)
Bliss Board
Eye Movement Recognition
Hardware

Useful Links
Teacher web:
http://teacherweb.com/ON/JohnMcGregorSecondarySchool/LearningandEnrichmentCentre/CerebralPalsy.pdf
Cerebral Palsy Learn Alberta: http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/inmdict/html/cerebral_palsy.html

Cerebral Palsy Association in Alberta: http://cpalberta.com/about/cerebral-palsy-faq/

BC Education - Recognizing the Child with Cerebral Palsy:
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/awareness/32.htm

Andrea, Young, Jeff, Kirsten

MyHealth.Alberta.ca: https://myhealth.alberta.ca/health/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=aa56262&#aa56262-sec
Cerebral Palsy Blog - Teaching Strategies: http://cerebralpalsyresource.weebly.com/teaching-strategies.html

Infusing Assistive Tech (Alberta Education): https://education.alberta.ca/media/525549/ipp9.pdf

Assistive Technology: http://www.teachspeced.ca/cerebral-palsy?q=node/688