Communication Problems In Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy involves a group of conditions that cause physical disability in humans. These conditions are non-progressive (i.e.- they do not undergo any more progress with age) and non-contagious (i.e.- these are not transmitted from one person to another). Cerebral is taken from the cerebrum (a portion of the brain). Palsy is disorder of movements. So when the cerebrum is affected to cause disorder of movements in humans, it is called Cerebral Palsy . This condition may be caused during pregnancy in 75%, during childbirth in 5% and 15% after birth (till the age of 3) . Not much research is done on CP in adults. The incidence is about 2 per 1000 live births worldwide. The occurrence is higher in males. In the United States, approximately 10,000 infants are suffering from CP each year and about 1200–1500 at preschool age.

Speech and Language Disorders are commonly seen with sufferers from Cerebral Palsy. Dysarthria (the movement of tongue, lips and jaw, activity of throat and lungs are not controlled by the brain to produce speech and sound) is seen among 31-88% CP sufferers. Athetosis (disturbed breathing pattern resulting in disturbance in pitch, voice and sound production) is also seen in individuals suffering from Cerebral Palsy. Apraxia of speech (unable to understand instructions and act accordingly) is also quite common in children. Generally children suffer from uncontrolled movements in jaw, lips and tongue. They may also have a small jawbone. These conditions make them suffer from speech disability. The speech deformities are seen in children suffering from:

• inaccurate consonant sounds
• irregular articulatory (coordination of various organs to make a sound) breakdown
• distorted vowel sounds
• unusual stress on words thereby reducing the real sense
• prolonged sounds
• unusual rate of talking
• mono pitch speech (talking at the same pitch for every word)
• harsh voice
• delay in speaking

There is no known cure for Cerebral Palsy.