Case Study of a

Student with
Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral Palsy
a group of permanent disorders affecting the development of
movement and causing a limitation of activity. Non-progressive
disturbances that manifest in the developing fetal or infant’s brain lead
to cerebral palsy
Etiology
 Abnormal development or damage to the fetal or infant's brain
 The brain insult/injury causing CP is non-progressive ("static")
 Can occur in the prenatal, perinatal, or postnatal periods
Prenatal Causes 
 Congenital brain malformations
 Intrauterine infections
 Intrauterine stroke
 Chromosomal abnormalities
Perinatal Causes 
 Hypoxic-ischemic insults
 Central nervous system (CNS) infections
 Stroke
 Kernicterus
Postnatal Causes 
 Accidental and non-accidental trauma
 CNS infections
 Stroke
 Anoxic insults
Risk factor
Prematurity is a significant risk factor for cerebral palsy
Complications of prematurity that can cause cerebral
palsy include:
 Periventricular leukomalacia
 Intraventricular hemorrhage
 Periventricular infarcts.
Other risk factors
 multiple gestation
 intrauterine growth restriction
 maternal substance abuse
 preeclampsia
 chorioamnionitis
 abnormal placental pathology
 meconium aspiration
 perinatal hypoglycemia,
 genetic susceptibility
Epidemiology
 Cerebral palsy is the most common cause of childhood disability. It occurs in
1.5 to 2.5 per 1000 live births
 Significantly higher in infants born prematurely than infants born at term
 Gestational age; common term used during pregnancy to describe how far
along the pregnancy is. A normal pregnancy 38-42 weeks. Infants born
before 37 weeks are considered premature.
 The prevalence is also higher in low birth weight infants. Very low birth
weight (less than 1500 grams) infants born are at greatest risk
 5% to 15% of infants born weighing less than 1500 grams develop cerebral
palsy
 Prenatal events cause approximately 80% of cerebral palsy cases, and
postnatal events cause about 10% of cases
 JV in Kindergarten
 He remains in a wheelchair all day long while in school
 JV has poor fine motor control, for example he cannot write with a
regular pencil, and even has a hard time with crayons
 He can push larger buttons and he truly enjoys working on the
computer
 JV has a hard time with talking and he talks extremely slow
 He enjoys school and learning
 He doesn’t like is being bored
 He enjoys interacting with his peers and school faculty
 He always has a smile on his face
 JV in Kindergarten
 He loves to say hi to everyone when he is riding down the hall in his
wheelchair
 JV has sense of humor
 The particular classroom that JV is mainstreamed into is set up with
mostly communication skills and motor skills
 The school that JV attends is a Public school
 JV goes to his class in the regular an aide always goes with him
 JV in Kindergarten

A couple goals for JV are:

(1) to improve fine motor skills and
(2) to improve his speaking abilities
The objectives for the first goal are:
(a) participate in any activity where grasping takes place,
and (b) practice holding and writing with a pencil.
The objectives for the second goal are:
(a) participate in group discussions and
(b) give oral presentations for group projects. Following is a
curriculum matrix for JV
 School Day
IEP GOALS COGNITIVE SOCIAL MOTOR CHARACTER LANGUAGE CREATIVE
INTELLECTUA EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMEN AND VALUES DEVELOPMEN &AESTHETIC
L DEVELOPMEN T DEVELOPMEN T DEVELOPMEN
DEVELOPMET T T T

Improve
Fine Motor
Skills

Improve
Speaking
Abilities
 JV will be working on his fine motor skills in all of the subject areas.
For example in Cognitive Intellectual Development he will be
working with manipulatives, in Social Emotional Development he
will play a sharing game that will contribute to their overall success
in life.

 Motor development he will be grasping balls, in Language

Development he will be writing

 Character and Values Development he will be using crayons,

colored pencils, markers, and paint brushes. For JV’s goal of
improving his speaking abilities
 JV in Kindergarten
 he will be talking in Language Development about problem solving
like probmem from the story read, and he will be participating in
group discussions.
 More vocal activities and group work can be classified under
adaptations. Other examples of adaptations that I would make are
allowing JV more time for completing assignments and possibly,
depending on the situation, decreasing the workload
 The supports that I would use are the children. I would have them
help out during group activities
 I would also (if I was the general education teacher) collaborate
with the special education teacher a bit more to see if we together
could devise more activities for JV to participate in
 JV in Kindergarten

JV can participate fully in the regular education classroom as

long as he receives some support and adaptations. Following is a

schedule of how JV’s day would look like if he was included fully and

how he participates with the help of others.

TIME ACTIVITY SUPPORTS AND
ADAPTATIONS
7:15 Arrive at school Help from Mom

7:30 Morning Jobs/Circle Time / Teacher and students help out

  Art in the classroom Larger grip colored pencils,
markers, crayons
8:30 Cognitive Intellectual Peer buddy helps to get
Development manipulatives
9:30 Emotional Development Works with peer and groupmates

10:30 Motor Development Peer, Classmates and Teacher

11:00 Go home Mom picks JV up

 CHILD ASSESSMENT
TOOL
EEG (Electroencephalogram)
Bender Visual Motor Gestalt
Test(BVMGT)
ASSESSMENT REMARKS
Based on interview to parent He was prescribed to take
JV has Depakene by the Doctor
Difficulty in sleeping. In
wakefulness, frequent and
muscle artifacts were seen
According to the Psychology Support and supervision are
result JV’s current intellectual needed in doing his day-to-day
endowment is 84 within the activities.
below average mental
capability with mental age of
5 years old.
 True mainstreaming means that the child is
actively involved in the general education class and the
schoolwork, not just a passive listener sitting in the
classroom. Full inclusion means that the child is
included into every subject matter, not just one or two.
This is what we as educators should want for every
student to ensure a fulfilling school career and future
life.
Together let’s make……

“ Disability into
Ability”