What is cerebral palsy?
Doctors use the term cerebral palsy to refer to any of a number of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and affecting permanent body movement and muscle coordination but do not evolve, in other words, do not worsen over time . The term cerebral refers to the two halves or hemispheres of the brain, in this case the area motor of the brain's outer layer (called the cerebral cortex), part of the brain that directs muscle movement, paralysis refers to the loss or impairment of motor function.
Even though cerebral palsy affects muscle movement is not caused by problems in the muscles or nerves, but by abnormalities in the brain that disrupt the brain's ability to control movement and posture.
In some cases of cerebral palsy, the cerebral motor cortex has not developed normally during growth fetal. In others, the damage is the result of brain damage before, during or after birth. In any case, the damage is not repairable and the resulting disabilities are permanent.
Children with cerebral palsy exhibit a wide variety of symptoms , including:
- lack of muscle coordination when performing voluntary movements (ataxia )
- stiff or rigid muscles and exaggerated reflexes (spasticity )
- walk with one foot or leg dragging;
- walking on tiptoe, a bent up, or fly "scissor"
- variations muscle tone, too stiff or too floppy;
- excessive drooling or difficulty swallowing or talking;
- shaking (tremor) or random involuntary movements, and
- difficulty precise movements, such as writing or buttoning a shirt.
cerebral palsy symptoms vary in type and severity from one person to another, and even can change in an individual over time. Some people with cerebral palsy also have other medical conditions such as mental retardation, seizures, vision or hearing impaired, and abnormal physical sensations or perceptions.
cerebral palsy does not always cause profound disabilities. While a child with severe cerebral palsy might be unable to walk and need extensive care and for life, another with mild cerebral palsy may be only slightly awkward and does not require special assistance.
Cerebral palsy is not a disease. is not contagious and can not be passed from one generation to another. There is no cure for cerebral palsy, but supportive treatment, medication and surgery can help many individuals improve their motor skills and the ability to communicate with the world.
There are many reasons why cerebral palsy occurs , for example as a result of genetic abnormalities, maternal infections or fevers, or fetal injury. But in all cases the disorder is the result of four types of brain damage caused by its characteristic symptoms:
- white matter damage in the brain ( PVL [PVL, acronyms in English]). brain's white matter is responsible for transmitting signals within the brain and the body. PVL describes a type of damage that resembles small holes in the white matter of the brain of a baby. These holes in brain tissue interferes with normal transmission signals. There are a number of episodes that can cause PVL, including maternal or fetal infection. Researchers have also identified a period of selective vulnerability in the developing fetal brain, a period of time between 26 and 34 weeks of gestation , in which the periventricular white matter is particularly sensitive to assaults and injuries.
- abnormal brain development ( cerebral dysgenesis ). Any disruption normal process of brain growth during fetal development can cause brain malformations that interfere with the transmission of brain signals. The fetal brain is particularly vulnerable during the first 20 weeks of development. Mutations in the genes that control brain development during this early period can prevent the brain from developing normally. The infections, fevers, trauma, or other diseases that cause unhealthy conditions in the womb put at risk the nervous system of the unborn child.
- cerebral hemorrhage ( Intracranial hemorrhage ). described intracranial hemorrhage bleeding into the brain caused by blocked or ruptured blood vessels. A common cause of this type of injury is fetal stroke. Some babies suffer a stroke while still in the womb due to blood clots in the placenta that block blood flow. Other types of fetal stroke are caused by malformed or weak blood vessels in the brain or blood clotting abnormalities. High blood pressure maternal (hypertension) is a common medical disorder during pregnancy has been shown to cause fetal stroke. It has also been shown that maternal infection, especially pelvic inflammatory disease , increases the risk of fetal stroke.
- Brain damage caused by lack of oxygen to the brain ( hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy or asphyxia ). Asphyxia, a lack of oxygen to the brain caused by an interruption in breathing or low oxygen supply, is common in babies due to the stress of labor and delivery. But while the blood of a newborn is equipped to compensate for low oxygen levels in the short term, if the oxygen supply is interrupted or reduced for long periods, the baby may develop a type of brain damage called hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, that destroys the fabric of cerebral motor cortex and other brain areas. This type of damage may be caused by low pressure maternal arterial, uterine rupture, placental abruption, or umbilical cord problems.
What other conditions are associated with cerebral palsy?
Many individuals with cerebral palsy do not have additional medical conditions. However, due to cerebral palsy involves the brain and it controls many body functions, cerebral palsy can also cause seizures, impaired intellectual development, and affect vision, hearing and behavior. Coping with these disabilities can be more challenging to deal with motor impairments of cerebral palsy.
additional diseases are
· mental retardation . Two thirds of individuals with cerebral palsy have an intellectual impairment. Mental impairment is more common among those with spastic quadriplegia than in those with other types of cerebral palsy, and children with epilepsy and an EEG (EEG) o un IRM anormal también tienen más probabilidades de tener retraso mental.
- Trastornos convulsivos . Aproximadamente la mitad de los niños con parálisis cerebral tiene convulsiones. Las convulsiones pueden tomar la forma clásica de las convulsiones tónico-clónicas como las menos obvias convulsiones focales (parciales) en las cuales los únicos síntomas pueden ser tics musculares o confusión mental.
- Slow growth and development . is a common syndrome called growth failure in children with cerebral palsy with moderate to severe, especially those with spastic quadriplegia. The growth failure is a general term doctors use to describe children who are late in the growth and development. In babies, this lag usually takes the form of very low weight gain. In young children may appear as abnormal stature, and teens may appear as a combination of short stature and lack of development sexual.Además, muscles and limbs affected by cerebral palsy tend to be smaller than normal. This is especially noticeable in children with spastic hemiplegia because members of the affected side of the body can not grow as fast or as long as the normal side.
- spinal deformities . deformities of the spine: curvature (scoliosis), humpback (kyphosis ), and back in saddle ( lordosis) are associated with cerebral palsy. The spinal deformity may make it difficult to sit, stand and walk and cause chronic back pain.
- Vision, hearing and speech impaired . A large number of children with cerebral palsy have strabismus , commonly called "squint," in which the eyes are misaligned due to differences between left and right eye muscles. In an adult, strabismus causes double vision. In children, brain adapts to the condition by ignoring signals from one eye is misaligned. If untreated, this can lead to poor vision in one eye and can interfere with the ability to judge distance. In some cases, doctors recommend surgery to realign the músculos.Los Children with hemiparesis may have hemianopia , which is defective vision or blindness that obscures the normal field of vision in one eye. In homonymous hemianopia, the damage affects the same part of the visual field in both ojos.El hearing impairment is also more common among those with cerebral palsy compared with the general population. Speech disorders and language, such as difficulty forming words and speaking clearly, are present in more than a third of those with cerebral palsy.
- drooling. Some individuals with cerebral palsy drool because they have little control of the muscles of the neck, mouth and tongue. Drooling can cause severe irritation of the skin. Because it is not socially acceptable, drooling can also isolate children from their peers.
- incontinence. A common complication of cerebral palsy is incontinence, caused by poor control of muscles that keep the bladder closed. Incontinence can take the form of bed-wetting, uncontrolled urination during physical activities or slow loss of urine throughout the día.Sensaciones and abnormal perceptions. Some children with cerebral palsy have difficulty feeling simple sensations like touch. May have estereognosia , which makes the perception and identification of objects using only the sense of touch. For example, a child would have trouble estereognosia close your eyes and feel the difference between a hard ball and a sponge placed in his hand.
Therefore, after the description of cerebral palsy want motor disability defined by a person who has temporarily or permanently any alteration of motor function due to a poorly functioning nervous system, muscle and / or bone , or several of them related, in varying degrees to limit some of the things you can do the other people their age.
Thus, this disability means the limitation of normal physical movement. People with such disabilities can be semi-ambulatory or outpatient . In the case of the first type are mobilized helped by complementary elements, such as crutches, canes, walkers, etc. The non-ambulatory can only travel with a wheelchair. This involves the fundamental importance of these elements for people with disabilities.
The causes of this disability may be for neurological, myopathic, orthopedic or rheumatologic . Neurologic sequelae are divided into brain (paralysis or hemiplegia) or spinal cord.
How to help a disabled engine?.
can help you with :
- speech therapy to address swallowing disorders, language difficulties and other obstacles to communication;
- orthotic devices and other devices to compensate for muscle imbalance, improve posture and walking, and increase independent mobility;
- mechanical assistance such as wheelchairs and walkers with wheels for individuals who are not independently mobile, and
- help communication such as computers, voice synthesizers, or boards of symbols to allow individuals severely damaged to communicate with others
- Etc.
What are some of the technology or software to aid motorists?.
Some of them are:
- JClic Using for literacy learning: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/
- Strawberry Project : Contains a set of related applications and voice control access to your computer, these programs support communication for people with physical disabilities, visual and auditory. You can access (http://www.xtec.net/ ~ jlagares), from which we can inform us about the use being made of the same in people with cerebral palsy to facilitate communication with the environment by through the use of computers. is free software that is allowed to copy and use for all users , notwithstanding the technical quality and usability of their level of exercise is above some standard programs commercial. Programs that are more useful for speech therapy programs are geared to the intervention of hearing-impaired subjects (Balloons, Vowel Recognition and Recognition of phonemes) and Plaphoons program that allows journalists to make and use for people with motor disabilities and severe disorders of communication.
- Speechwiever : Software developed by IBM that integrates clinical management (providing information on performance and progress of the patient) with targeted interventions the rehabilitation of speech. The program uses visual and auditory feedback to analyze and improve speech skills in persons with speech, language or hearing. The parameters of speech are represented by different objects (animals, toys ...) and visual effects (volume, height ...) that are attractive to children and very representative of the parameter to rehabilitate. The program comprises 13 modules. It can be especially helpful for people with hearing impairment because it can display articulating the parameters of sound and provide feed-back of speech production. Exercises proposed: control of speech from visual feedback, make non-verbal sounds (vibration of the lips), knowing the intensity and pitch ideas through visual feedback, use residual hearing and auditory indication, the program also includes a tutorial and a guide for clinical and educational applications, and finally, it also uses standard sound card.
What computers are in the market for students with physical disabilities? .
Other computers are communicating through the eyes of people with physical disabilities:
- Iriscom QG2 . is a mouse device that replaces the manual. Get that person incapable of handling the computer with your hands, get practically the same results just by looking at the desired location. The team consists of a camera, high precision and speed, installed in front of the user, a pair of infrared lamps low power are at the side of the screen connection cables and special software.
- Iriscom QG3 . Many users and carers have very clear they want communication devices that are portable, compact and easy to use. QG3 is known for these attributes, integrating all optical elements into a single, durable piece. The unit is supplied with mounting brackets for installation on a laptop or a fixed. The assembly and adjustment are much easier, since all optical elements are concentrated.
What specifications techniques has QG2 and QG3?:
· System Requirements:
* Pentium IV, Intel Centrino or
* At least one IEEE 1394 (FireWire) port. You may substitute a cheap adapter.
* Windows XP or higher.
* 512 Mb RAM.
* At least 10 MB of available disk space for installation.
* Follow-up of the look:
* Video, dark pupil, infrared illumination.
· Accuracy:
* 1 degree (approximately).
· Resolution:
* 1024 x 768 pixels.
* 30 frames per second.
· Physical configuration:
* In desktop computers, are mounted video camera and lights on the front computer monitor.
* On laptops: the camera is placed above the keyboard. Fixing lights halfway up the back of the screen and directed toward the user.
* Nothing is placed on the user.
* head movement as possible: user's eyes should be kept in the field of view camera (around 20x20 cm.).
* Infrared light: lighting provided by LEDs with a wavelength range between 800 and 1,000 nm.
* Irradiation at the user's eyes in normal conditions is less than 0.5 mw. per cm. square.
· Calibration
* The program has 16 goals on the screen, the user is looking on.
* Calibration is done only once and used in all sessions.
* The system can be used by multiple users, whose data are stored.
Finally, I will mention investigations carried out very close in the
"The Neuroengineering Group Biomedical of University Miguel Hernández de Elche (UMH) and the Center for Biomedical Research Network, Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER BBN) has developed an interface brain-computer that can surf the Internet using brain activity. This interface allows navigation through the Internet and also allows complete control of the computer and all its applications to brain signals.
Research on brain-computer interface has been led by José Maria Azorín and Eduardo Fernandez, teachers UMH, and in which the student participates Jose Luis Sirvent, will be presented in April in one of the most important conferences worldwide on Artificial Intelligence.
This interface can detect what the intention of the person through evoked potentials, corresponding to EEG signals (EEG) that reflect an automatic response from the brain to external visual stimulation.
research is part of a research project granted by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, called ' telerobotic control systems by Advanced Interfaces for the Disabled "
. (Http://martinbetanzos.blogspot.es/)
Links:
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http://www.iriscom.org/productos.php?op=10
http://www.cucurrucu.com/lectoescritura-para-motricos/
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