What is Cerebral Palsy?
LouAnn Hollihan
Unit 2 IP – PRES111-1101A-01 Presentation Essentials
Researching the Topic
February 20, 2011
Professor Shakir
American InterContinental University Online
Introduction
The subject of cerebral palsy holds special meaning for me because my best friend has a foster son that she has had complete charge of for sixteen years and he has severe cerebral palsy. Tommy was diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy at the age of one, he is now thirty three. Tommy’s condition caused the divorce of his parents, with neither parent wanting to take full responsibility for his care; he was placed in June’s home at the age of seventeen after being in numerous foster care facilities and homes for the disabled. In these various institutions and foster care homes, there was no personal interaction with Tommy, he was kept medicated to prevent him from sudden outbursts of anger, he was sexually abused in one such facility, wearing diapers because he was not bathroom trained, could not eat on his own, could not walk or talk. It took many years of constant twenty four hour, seven days a week care, but with June’s loving care, he now eats mostly on his own except he always wants ice cream so June has to bribe him to eat, he uses the bathroom on his own, can walk, and he has trained Jayne and others his kind of sign language to communicate. Today, Tommy is a loving and happy young man. He knows who his mommy and daddy are, although he only sees them once a year. If you ask him who his mommy or daddy is, he will go and get their pictures to show you, if you ask him who June is, he goes to her and hugs her. This paper is to inform my audience of what cerebral palsy is and what some of the causes are; the types of different severities, treatments for cerebral palsy, and how it affects the lives of entire families.
What is Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral Palsy causes the lack of power to control the motor functions due to infection, such as...