What is Cerebral Palsy: Q&A with Dawn Lee Sau Ching from CPAS

  

Marie France Asia: What is Cerebral Palsy?

Dawn Lee Sau Ching: Cerebral (brain) Palsy (lack of muscle control) is an inclusive term used to describe a group of non-progressive disorders occurring in young children in which damage to the brain causes impairment of motor function. The degree of disability ranges from extreme tightness or looseness of the muscles of the body, improper head, shoulder or hip control to slight speech impairment. Cerebral Palsy is not curable and is non-progressive. The condition can be caused before or during birth or some illness or injury to the child early in life.

MFA: Do you think people in Singapore have enough awareness and knowledge about CP?

DL: A lot of people are not aware of the condition and how it affects a person.
A common misconception is that people with CP inevitably have learning disabilities. This may have arisen because people with the condition can have problems controlling their facial movements and speech, and it can be difficult to understand them at first. Cognitive or learningdisabilities do occur and it is estimated that 1 in 2 of children with cerebral palsy have a learning disability. However, as with any other child, there is a wide range of intelligence, and some even perform well at school.

Many people also do not know that there are different kinds of CP. They include spastic cerebral palsy (the most common kind), which means muscles are often stiff; athetoid cerebral palsy, which causes slow and writhing movements or fast and jerky ones; and ataxic cerebral palsy, which mainly causes issues with coordination. People can have mixed forms. Spastic CP is further categorised by which body parts are affected: Diplegic CP affects symmetrical parts of the body, often the legs; quadriplegic CP affects all four limbs; hemiplegia affects one side of the body, from arms to legs; and monoplegia affects one limb, often an arm.

There are varying degrees of cerebral palsy. There are people with CP who have a bit of weakness in one arm or hand. There are people with CP who are in wheelchairs. There are people with CP whose speech is impaired. There are those who have perfect speech. There are those with cognitive impairment. There are ones who are geniuses. It’s all a matter of where the brain damage lies.

MFA: How many people in Singapore are living with CP?

DL: There is no coordinated effort in the registration of CP in Singapore.  CPAS is currently serving about 800 persons with CP and related disabilities.

For more information about Cerebral Palsy, you can contact CPAS on +65 6585 5600

During the holiday season, The Body Shop is teaming up with CPAS to send a child to a class with every specially selected gift you buy. The initiative aims to provide experiential learning classes for children 6 years old and below through the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC). A selection of The Body Shop festive gift sets is available here.

Rana Wehbe