While those with CP used to be mostly treated for movement disabilities, there are also emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and sensory impairments alongside movement disorders. It is possible for the individual to be affected on either global or focal scales. Additionally, movement abnormalities can range between dyskinetic and spastic. Some also experience seizures, sometimes due to co-occurring epilepsy. 

CP: Symptoms

There are a variety of treatment options, but the ideal treatment method hopes to manage all symptoms and push for the individual’s independence. A multidisciplinary “team” method is generally employed, especially if the person is being treated at a young age. In the team, there would ideally be (at least): a physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, and cognitive-behavioral therapist. 

Research is still being done for the best treatment methods throughout adulthood. While most people are treated at a young age, symptoms persist past adolescence, and adults with CP should still be monitored regularly.

CP: Treatment

Cerebral Palsy is a neurological condition which develops anytime between the prenatal and two years post-natal period. Onset occurs for unknown reasons during fetal development, but can also occur during issues with delivery or due to a child sustaining an injury to the head before cerebral development is completed. The disease is commonly characterized by disorders of movement, as well as emotional, behavioral, and cognitive impairments. 

Rutgers University

Neurological disorders are a specific type of disorder that occurs as a result of injury or trauma to the brain or central nervous system, consisting of the spinal cord and the connected nerves. Neurological disorders can impair movement and speech to various degrees, depending on the intensity and the specific type of neurological disorder. Neurological disorders can also occur as a result of genetic abnormalities and infections. Specific neurological disorders include cerebral palsy, ADD, and conversion disorder.

Neurological Disorders

Cerebral Palsy (CP)

Conversion disorder is a neurological condition in which the individual is seen to experience sensory- or motor-based deficits that cannot be explained by any other known neurological disorders. While this definition seems convoluted, it is the common way that conversion disorder is defined in the clinical setting. The name, “conversion disorder,” comes from the concept of internal emotional and psychological states (which have been repressed) manifesting, or converting, into inexplicable physical symptoms, such as (but not limited to): blindness, numbness, paralysis, and seizures. This disorder is quite hard to diagnose, and tends to be a controversial diagnosis, due to the fact that the underlying psychological issues may be hard to address or discover. 

Conversion Disorder

Stroke can be clinically recognized through a sudden or rapid onset of symptoms which reflect global or focal deficit of neurological function, lasting around 24 hours or yielding death. Due to infarction or hemorrhage of the central nervous system, it is classified as both a neurological disorder and vascular injury. There are associations between stroke development and hypertension, diabetes, history of smoking, and more. Despite the wide range of severity in symptoms, strokes are generally characterized by difficulties with motor function, visual deficits, speech and language deficits, pain, and other difficulties with daily life activities which yield a strong dependence on a caregiver or nursing facility. Combinations of pharmacological- and rehabilitation-based treatments are the most common strategies to help a patient improve their overall function. 

Stroke

Epilepsy is a common neurological disease, characterized by recurring, unprovoked seizures. Unprovoked seizures are seen brief episodes of impaired behavior or awareness which are unrelated to other medical conditions, drug or alcohol use, or glucose levels. Those with an epileptic syndrome have forms of epilepsy where the type of seizure episodes (focal versus generalized) is known, with consistent EEG patterns. Epileptic seizures are generally caused by abnormal neurons altering the neural network, at local or global levels. 

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