Hi Debra,

    I am Bobby and am a 67 year old with mild CP. I retired from teaching in
2001. I was a professor at the University of Memphis in Special Ed. and Rehab.
I can not elaborate on what Beth told you. In my own experience, school
personnel tried to "protect" me from various things and I rebelled. Yes, I got
hurt, but I learned. Also, in regard to IQ some people regard CP's as being
retarded or being genius'. The fact is that although the total CP population tends
to skew toward the low side of the bell curve, this is often a result of
inadequate testing and/or development deficits. When a highly verbal CP comes along,
they are regarded as a genius, which is not always true.Oh, did I not say do
not baby them!

Bobby
hey, beth, don't forget to add "don't baby these
kids."
lol.

--- Elizabeth Thiers <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Debra,
> I'm Beth an occupational therapist, I hang here for
> the good jokes.  I don't
> have CP but, I've been working with people with
> disabilities (mostly
> children) for 10 years now, been an OT for 6 years.
> 1.  Don't baby.
> 2.  Create experiences for the child to do work as
> independently as
> possible.
> 3.  Get them out of the wheelchairs and down near
> their peers.  Children w/
> CP should have a new position every 20 minutes to
> prevent contractures.
> They should be in gait trainers, mobile prones,
> standers, rifton chairs etc.
> Let the other kids play in the equipment when the
> child with cp isn't in it.
> Good experience, bonding happens.
> 4.  Don't baby.  Unless there are strict doctors
> orders to do so.
> 5.  Adapt, adapt, adapt.  Whether it's
> communications, books, activities
> whatever.
> 6.  Assume the child knows more than what you think
> and start there.  While
> old statistics state that the majority of children
> with CP are mentally
> retarded.  Honestly, most of them have never have
> good learning experiences,
> the right set-ups or a chance.
> 7.  Don't baby.
> 8.  Do know that many children with CP have
> processing delays.  It takes
> them awhile to respond.  This can affect hearing,
> visual, touch, balance,
> etc.  These kids should be screened for visual motor
> deficits, central
> auditory processing problems, etc.  If gentle
> insisting won't get this
> testing done.  Just assume it's a problem and adapt
> from there.
> 9.  Adapting the curriculum is an on-going process.
> I've seen too many
> times that a child was evaluated, set-up accured and
> then that was it.  What
> about putting worksheets on computers?  The company
> the teachers got the
> worksheets from are required by law (ADA) to provide
> alternative methods of
> accessing there work.  You have to know to ask.
> 10.  Did I mention don't baby these kids.
>
>
> Beth t the OT
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: St. John's University Cerebral Palsy List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Dufour, Deb RQHR (by way
> of Deri James <[log in to unmask]>)
> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 9:09 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: School Inservice
>
> Hi there,
> I am an occupational therapist doing an inservice
> next week for school staff
> (teachers and assistants) on working with children
> with Cerebral Palsy.  One
> of the discussion points will be myths or
> misconceptions about children with
> Cerebral Palsy.  I have heard of a few from
> co-workers that school staff
> have had about children with CP (ie. they can't go
> outside because the cold
> air will make them more 'spastic').
>
> I was wondering if you have ever experienced
> difficulties with school staff
> having misconceptions about your child (ren) with
> Cerebral Palsy?  Could you
> share?  I would love some more ideas to go with for
> the inservice, without
> having to pull teeth to get them to admit what they
> believe or think about
> the children I work with.
>
> Thanks for any and all information shared!
> DEb
> Debra Dufour
> Occupational Therapist
> WRC - Children's Program