Lauren Bligh
ECT 657
Dr. Betty Nelson
Spring 2013
Fact Sheet-Cerebral Palsy
IDEA definition: Under IDEA, cerebral palsy is considered an "orthopedic impairment,"
which is defined as ". . . a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child's
educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly
(e.g. clubfoot, absence of some member, etc.), impairments caused by disease (e.g.,
poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral
palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures)." -34 Code of Federal
Regulations Section 300.7(c)(8)
The 3 types of cerebral palsy are listed below.
 Spastic cerebral palsy.
 Athetotic cerebral palsy.
 Ataxic cerebral palsy.
Educational implications: When you are teaching a child with cerebral palsy, some
things you may not consider as educational implications may actually be the main
implications you need to be most aware of with the particular student. It is
important to know if the student needs to be shifted, moved, transitioned or
stretched within the school day. Everyone knows that you cannot focus and function
if you are uncomfortable. Although certain students may be confined to a wheel
chair, that doesn’t mean they do not become sore and uncomfortable. It is
important to know when where and how these transitions need to be made and plan
them within every school day if necessary. There may need to be LRE changes or
schedule changes for some students to ensure these requirements for the child are
being met on a daily basis. You also must make sure they are receiving all the
accommodation and adaptations they need to succeed. This may include extra
training with the occupational, speech or physical therapist. I would always have
my occupational therapist come in and talk to me and the paraprofessionals
regarding the things we could do to help our student with cerebral palsy. She
installed a touch screen on one of the computers and also created a special keyboard
for this student. Educational implications may change within the school year and
almost always change depending on each individual case.
LRE considerations: the nature and severity of each individual case is directly
related to students placement in their least restrictive environment. While teaching
at Minor High School I had a girl with cerebral palsy whose LRE had to be the self
contained classroom simply because of her toileting and changing needs. She was
not able to go to the bathroom alone, and it took twp people to change her or assist
her in the restroom. Now at St Clair County High the student I am working with
does not have the self -contained classroom listed as his least restrictive placement.
He is able to use the restroom alone and requires little accommodations during the
day while he attends all inclusion classes. Of course he is still designated to a special
education teacher and as paraprofessionals assistance in some inclusion classes, but
he is pretty much independent. Each case has to be assessed when considering a
student with cerebral palsy. The least restrictive environment is meant to help
these children, but we are always striving to include them with their non-disabled
peers.
Technology Available: the most obvious assistive technology available for students
with cerebral palsy are the attachments to their wheel chairs. While observing in
Homewood I learned of all the attachments that can be created uniquely for certain
students and all of the assistive technology that can be purchased for the wheel
chairs. Some of the common technology used for students with cerebral palsy are
below:
Frogpad One Hand Keyboard
QualiKey On-Screen Keyboard
IntelliKeys Keyboard
Large Print Keyboards
Alternative Mouse Emulators
Touch Screens
QualiCLICK Software
QualiEYE Software
Hands Free Voice Recognition Software
Communication Aids
Boardmaker Software
GoTalk Portable Communication Aid for Non Verbal Children
Appropriate Support Services: I made sure to contact all of the appropriate support
services when I first learned I would be servicing a child with cerebral palsy within
my self-contained classroom. Some of the support services included:
1. occupational therapy
2. physical therapy
3. Speech therapy
4. transition services team
5. United Cerebral Palsy of Birmingham
6. vocational rehabilitation
7. job coach for the particular school system or school