The physical signs and symptoms of cerebral palsy in a developed state are often easy to spot. However, this is not the case when it comes to identifying the condition in its early stages as well as the subtle developmental impacts of cerebral palsy. Parents of children with cerebral palsy often confuse developmental issues with learning disabilities or other types of physical impairments. It is important to monitor children for developmental delays and understand how cerebral palsy affects a child’s development so those issues can be addressed.
Cerebral Palsy and a Child’s Development
Here are the five ways in which cerebral palsy can affect your child developmentally:
1. Motor skills: Cerebral palsy can have an impact on an individual’s gross and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills refer to a child’s initial milestones such as gaining head control, crawling, and sitting up and walking. When these developmental milestones are not reached in a timely manner, it is important that the child starts receiving physical therapy to help strengthen the muscles, prevent muscle stiffness and minimize problems that may lead to more mobility issues.
Fine motor skills are achieved when children learn to use their smaller muscles such as those in the hands, fingers and wrists. Fine motor skills are employed when children do tasks such as writing, holding small items, buttoning clothing, turning pages, eating, cutting with scissors or using computer keyboards. Children who are unable to perform these tasks may be able to improve with the help of physical and/or occupational therapy.
2. Language and communication: Children with cerebral palsy often experience difficulty with communication, particularly in areas such as speech, the development of gesture and facial expression and voice production. Learning to communicate with others and ensuring that you are understood is a crucial part of any child’s early development. These developmental issues are typically addressed with the help of speech pathologists who will assess your child’s skills and use a variety of teaching methods and tools to help your child improve.
3. Vision and hearing: It is common for a child with cerebral palsy to have issues with vision and hearing. However, in his or her case, it is different from someone who may be physically impaired and unable to see or hear things. The difficulty a child with cerebral palsy has is actually a “visual processing deficit,” which means they have a hard time finding the words for what they are looking at. While they may see the object, their brains might not be processing what is in front of them. Similarly, a child may hear what you say, but the brain doesn’t process what it hears simultaneously.
4. Social and emotional development: These types of milestones may be more challenging to evaluate. For example, a 2-month-old baby should be able to smile at people. By the time they are 4 months old, babies should be able to smile more and play with others. They also tend to copy others’ facial expressions. By the time they turn 1, children should have likes and dislikes. They should be able to respond to certain situations such as a parent leaving the room.
Children with cerebral palsy can benefit from social therapy, which uses group and individual activities to reduce barriers to communication. Recreational therapy, where a therapist helps children boost confidence and acceptance of their condition, may also help significantly.
5. Behavioral issues: Studies on children with cerebral palsy have found that these children are more likely to struggle with behavioral issues. As much as 25 to 30 percent of children with cerebral palsy also struggle with some type of behavioral disorder. Risk factors include having learning disabilities, seizure disorder or having problems communicating. If a child with cerebral palsy is unable to communicate, he or she might act out to get his or her needs met. Recognizing and getting treatment for a child struggling with behavioral issues is critical.
Filing a Cerebral Palsy Lawsuit
If your child suffers from cerebral palsy as the result of medical negligence, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
We have seen many cases where New York City Health and Hospital Corporation hospitals deliver babies who are born with cerebral palsy or erb’s palsy stemming from negligence and/or medical malpractice in the labor and delivery etc. of the children. The following list identifies some of these hospitals (operated by New York City Health and Hospital Corporation):
• Jacobi Hospital aka Bronx Municipal 1400 Pelham Parkway South Bronx, New York 10461 718-918-5000
• Lincoln Hospital 234 East 149th Street Bronx, New York 10451 718-579-5000
• North Central Bronx Hospital 3424 Kossuth Avenue Bronx, New York 10467 718-519-5000
• Coney Island Hospital 2601 Ocean Parkway Brooklyn, New York 11235 718-616-3000
• Kings County Hospital 451 Clarkson Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11203 718-245-31 BIGGEST HOSPITAL IN THE WORLD
• Woodhull Hospital 760 Broadway Brooklyn, New York 11206 718-963-8000
• Bellevue Hospital 462 First Avenue New York, New York 10016 212-562-5555
• Harlem Hospital 506 Lenox Avenue New York, New York 10037 212-939-1000
• Metropolitan Hospital 1901 First Avenue New York, New York 10029 212-423-6262
• Elmhurst Hospital 79-01 Broadway Elmhurst, New York 11373 718-334-4000
• Queens Hospital Center 82-68 164th Street Jamaica, New York 11432 718-883-3000
Our law firm helped a family secure a $43,940,000 verdict for a child who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Another client of ours received a $23,500,000 verdict for a child who developed cerebral palsy and mental retardation after suffering a birth injury. Both verdicts were so large that they were reduced on appeal. We also recovered $1,400,000 for a newborn who lost motion in the arm during birth due to doctors applying incorrect force on the baby’s head.
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