10 ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY - NEUROPSYCHOLOGY - 2024

In this article we will discuss 10 activities for children with cerebral palsy that can be useful to improve abilities and quality of life. Cerebral palsy is a group of developmental disorders of movement and posture that cause marked limitation of activity.

This disease originates from a non-progressive aggression on a developing brain, that is, due to some damage produced during the fetal period or the first years of life.

The etiology of cerebral palsy can be attributed to different factors. These can be broadly divided into three main groups: prenatal factors, perinatal factors, and postnatal factors.

With regard to prenatal factors, clotting disorders, autoimmune diseases or intrauterine infection of the mother, changes in the placenta such as thrombosis or vascular changes, and fetal factors such as polyhydramnios stand out.

The most common perinatal factors are prematurity, low birth weight, maternal fever during delivery, sustained hypoglycemia, and intracranial hemorrhage.

Finally, cerebral palsy that develops when the child is born is usually due to infections, head injuries, seizure status, intoxication or cardio-respiratory arrest.

Keep in mind that not all cerebral palsies are the same, since there are different types. We can find tetraplegia (involvement of the upper and lower limbs), disparesia (greater involvement of the upper limbs), hemiparesis (involvement of both limbs on one side of the body) and monoparesis (involvement of a single limb).

However, whatever the type of cerebral palsy suffered and the etiological factors of the disorder, there is no doubt that this disease causes a great disability for the child. For this reason, carrying out activities from the first stages of life are essential to stimulate the child's deficits and encourage both physical and mental development.

Activities for children with cerebral palsy

1- Learn to control the head

The first activity that should be done to stimulate the development of a child with cerebral palsy is to control the head. In order for a child to be able to get up, roll over, sit up, crawl or perform any movement, she must first of all develop some control over her head.

This task is difficult for all newborns, since the size and weight of their head, compared to the rest of the body and its strength, is very high. However, for children with paralysis this activity is even more complex, so parents must work and train this action with the baby.

Before teaching a child to move, turn, or sit, control over his head must be strengthened. To do this, the child must be encouraged to lift her head when lying on her stomach. This can be done by drawing your attention with bright objects or colors.

If you find that the child has trouble lifting his head because of weak body regions, it is often helpful to put a folded blanket under his chest and shoulders.

In the event that the child cannot get up, take him and place him on your chest so that he is practically sitting. With this pose it will be easier for you to lift your head.

Once on the back, the child should be grasped by the shoulders and gently lifted until the head hangs slightly back. This action should be done with caution and should be avoided if your head hangs a lot.

Finally, another action that allows this activity to be carried out is to put the nipple (or the bottle) next to the lips instead of keeping it in the mouth so that the child must approach the food by himself.

2- Learn to turn and turn

Only when the child has good control of his head can he begin to practice the turning and turning activity. To carry out this action we can start as in the previous activity, drawing the child's attention when he is lying down.

Once you have caught their attention with a toy, you should swing it to the side so that the child turns his head. If after several attempts the child does not perform the action, you can help her by lifting one leg.

Once the child has mastered this movement, he can be taught to roll over to the side while on his back. In this case, you should place the child on his back and offer him a toy on one side, encouraging him to turn to pick it up.

3- Practice eye-hand coordination

One of the characteristics of children with cerebral palsy is that, very often, they do not have grip relaxation during the first months of life.

If you put your finger close to it, you probably won't grab it with your hand until later stages. This fact can interfere with the development of the child, so it is important to practice this activity.

To do this, you must first observe if the baby always has his hand closed. If so, the hand should be rubbed gently from the little finger to the wrist.

This will open your hand, and most likely grab your finger. In the event that the child does not close his hand, it is useful to take an object, put it in his hand, close it so that he can hold it and slowly release his hand to maintain the grasping action.

4- Stimulate body control

When babies control their head, they begin to sit up and move. However, to sit well, the child needs to control his body, use his hands, and balance.

The onset of these skills are often delayed in children with cerebral palsy, so they should be practiced and helped to develop them. To do this, it is effective to sit the child up and, when she falls, teach her to stop by extending her arms.

A useful activity to practice this action is to lay the child face down on a log, hold him by the hips and slowly roll him to the sides.

As you do so, you should encourage the child to stop when balanced with the help of the hand. You can also perform this same action by laying the child on your belly.

When the child can support himself while lying down, do the same by sitting him and rocking him to the sides, and up and back.

Once you have some control, you can do the same by sitting the child on your legs and moving them slightly so that the child tries to counteract the destabilization produced by the movement.

5- Start dragging and crawling

It is important that crawling and crawling begin when the child has some control over his body. It is convenient to follow the order of activities that we have discussed so far.

To do this, it is useful to start by laying the child face down on the floor and attracting his attention with an object that is practically within reach.

If when the child tries to approach the object he cannot bend his leg, he should be helped by lifting the hips. If your baby finds it difficult to start crawling on the floor, you can practice the same action on your leg.

Sit on the floor and lay the child face down on your leg. Get your attention with an object placed at your feet for the child to crawl up to. When your child has mastered this activity, encourage him to do it as many times as he can.

Crawling up a mountain of straw is another particularly beneficial activity as it strengthens the child's limbs.

6- Learn to walk

To start the child on the move, the baby must have previously learned to crawl and control his body. Once these two actions have been mastered, the child should be held under the armpits, encouraged to adopt a straight posture, and lightly put her feet on the ground.

This action will allow the child to use the gait reflex and strengthen his legs. When the child is supporting himself on the floor, stand in front of him, hold him by the hips and spread his feet so that he has ample support.

Later, you should gently lean the child from side to side so that he learns to shift his weight from one leg to the other. When the child can almost walk alone but is afraid, it is helpful to tie a cloth around the chest.

You must stand behind him holding the cloth without using force and watching the child at all times in case he falls.

7- Improve balance

In addition, you can practice various activities that allow the child to improve his balance. This skill will help you both to improve your ability to walk, and to avoid dangerous postures when sitting or lying down.

When the child is lying down, you should encourage him to shift his weight from one arm to the other. To do this, you can get their attention with an object and make the child want to pick it up.

When trying to catch it, the child will balance his weight towards one arm, so he should be encouraged to catch it each time with a different hand.

To improve seated balance, it is helpful to place the child on a rocking board. The instability of the surface will force the child to practice her balance skills. When the child crawls, you should encourage her to shift her weight from one arm to the other and from one leg to the other. Also, she can be taught to crawl forward and backward.

These activities will develop your balance while also helping to strengthen your muscles.

When walking, it is helpful to ask the child to stand and balance on his knees (as long as he does not have spasticity), and to learn to stand still, holding on to an object.

8-Control of muscle tension

Children with cerebral palsy are much more prone to contractures, so it is advisable to carry out activities that can prevent them. In this case, it is important that when performing the exercises, spasticity is not increased, but rather that the muscles can relax.

To relax the spastic muscles, it is often helpful to place warm cloths over the child's spastic muscles. Later, the child can be helped to twist from side to side, stretching her muscles and reducing spasticity.

9- Incorporation of the game

The best way for children to learn is by playing, so it is important to present any activity as a game. It is convenient that the activities are carried out for a certain time (not very long) and that they incorporate new and attractive elements for the child.

It is important for the child to learn to play with other children and to play alone, so he should be given the opportunity to do fun activities. On the other hand, play is a highly important element that can allow work and development of your skills.

Incorporating toys to strengthen their senses of touch, such as clay, ropes, pulleys, marbles, sand, and toys to enhance their visual senses such as mirrors, colors, or puppets, is highly beneficial.

Likewise, toys for balance such as swings or hammocks, and toys for the ear such as rattles, flutes or drums, will not only allow the child to have fun, but will also serve to increase their development.

10- Start in skills for daily life

Finally, the child must gradually develop a series of basic skills. Cerebral palsy makes this set of skills take longer to appear, so development should also be practiced.

To help your child develop new skills, you first have to look at what he can do and what he cannot do. The child will often need a lot of help speaking and communicating, so he should be helped to communicate in any way that he can.

Likewise, he should be encouraged to learn to eat, dress, bathe, and carry out his daily needs on his own.

To practice these types of activities, the child's abilities must be taken into account and encouraged to use them.

References

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