5: Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy for People with Cerebral Palsy (PDF)

This book is a practical resource for physiotherapists and occupational therapists who support people with cerebral palsy, helping them to solve the problems with movement and other impairments that often accompany cerebral palsy, so that they can be more active and better able to participate in roles such as study, work, recreation and relationships. The first chapters provide the background to the clinical reasoning approach that informs the whole text, as well as an overview of therapeutic interventions. The subsequent chapters present clinical situations that therapists will encounter in the course of their work with individuals with cerebral palsy across the lifespan. Each chapter describes a case in detail, including the reasoning behind assessment and treatment choices, interventions and outcomes. The themes emphasized throughout the book are the use of the clinical reasoning approach of the intervention process model, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health as a framework to help therapists inform patient and family decision-making, family-centred approaches in developing and implementing therapeutic strategies, and multidisciplinary team work.This book is not meant as a definitive account of all the therapies or schools ofthought about 'management' of cerebral palsy. Rather, it has been cleverly structuredto present a problem-based approach to address issues across the full range of motorimpairments (i.e. all Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS] levels).The ages of the people in the case illustrations range from 6 months to 45 years, andthe kinds of challenges they face also vary to cover the broad scope of whatprofessionals might encounter in our practices with people of virtually any age withmotor impairments found in the cerebral palsy spectrum. As a result, readers shouldcome away with a sound understanding of approaches to problem-solving with, andon behalf of the children, youth and families with whom we work. In this respect thebook is an excellent example of a practical approach to a wide range of complexproblems that never have been straightforward, and never will lend themselves toformulaic answers.