Nutrition & Cerebral Palsy

Oral Motor Dysfunction (OMD) that is impaired muscular function that affects swallowing, chewing, speaking, or facial posture makes feeding extremely difficult for children suffering from cerebral palsy. These children may also have associative gastrointestinal complications that affects their eating habits, preferences and nutrition absorbing capacity. Further because of communication difficulties many of them are unable to request food and drink. Thus Children with cerebral palsy are at the constant risk of malnutrition or being undernourished.30 to 80 percent of children suffering from Cerebral palsy feed with difficulty. And approximately 35 to 40 % suffer Malnutrition. As a result of not getting adequate nutrition 48 percent of them suffer from growth retardation.

Nutritional health of a Cerebral Palsy child plays a very important role in improvement of his /her physical condition.  Nutritional rehabilitation has great potential to help improve weight, muscle mass, decreased irritability, and circulation in individuals with cerebral palsy.

It’s important to consultant a nutritionist so that they can assess your child’s nutrition needs, food intake and suggest /recommend diet plans including calorie intake for your child, eating methods etc. Planning for the meals is equally important. Usually Children need to take three meals and two snacks a day. Food must include items which do not require much chewing such as items of liquid or semisolid consistency such that the food can be eaten with the least frustration or distress. Meals are at times stressful and time consuming for the cerebral palsy children and those caring for them. Feeding might include repeated spillage of food, bouts of cough, choking, and regurgitation. Thus they need to be patiently fed.

Along with Macro-nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins Micro-nutrients such as vitamins & minerals also should be taken care off.Meals & snacks may include fruits like berries, oranges, Sweet limes, melons etc.  and Vegetables  like  carrots, spinach , cauliflower  etc. Meat and Dairy products - Chicken, fish, eggs, milk, yogurt, butter should also be the part of meals along with cereals & pulses. Avoiding processed foods will be beneficial as they do not have much a nutritional value.

A regular periodic assessment of nutritional health and status of the cerebral palsy child is very essential and cannot be neglected. 

Emotions-Expression, Suppression & Repression

Emotions are the strongest behavioral responses we exhibit. They can add enthusiasm, energy, joy and lot many feelings to our life. However, at the same time emotions can leave us confused, stressed and even drag us down to the depths of depression & despair. Emotions are related to our experiences, what all we have gone through or we are suffering, the present, past, good, bad etc.

Understanding emotions is very important; it is the kindest thing you an ever do to ourselves and other’s too. It allows you to heal and gain wisdom in life. It implies to all of us and Children with special needs are no exception. In fact it affects them more. Identifying the messages behind the emotions is very essential. If they are anxious, you need to ask why or are they afraid of? If they are angry, you need to look at why they are angry, go ahead to understand the feelings behind those behaviors; Understanding their emotions will help them perceive their issues and world differently.

Even we often lock our own emotions, bury what we feel because we think that we can’t face up to deal with or confront them or we are in denial with the feelings we get. We all have our own ways of dealing & coping up with them. Suppression of emotions will lead them to exist always until they resurface again somewhere else, eventually making one feel ill both physically &mentally. Suppression takes a toll on our health in a long run.

Repression is nothing but denial and directing our feelings and attention away from our conscious thoughts into our subconscious mind. This blocks away thoughts, memories which are hurtful. Repression provides a short term relief only.

The ultimate solution is to talk and speak about what you feel honestly. Expression can be both positive & negative. Our expressions are often governed by our upbringing, cultural backgrounds, society etc. However, both these forms of expression are equally important.

It is slow process of realization, perception and learning which allows you to control your emotions or else your emotions will control you.

Arts and Cerebral Palsy

Art is the most creative form of expression man has ever known. As Elbert Hubbard has said “Art is not a thing — it is a way”. Looking at present day, creative inclination of children is very important as it plays a vital role to create a positive bend of mind and aesthetic approaches in every work he or she will do. Also it helps in molding the minds of children to develop a positive nature and appreciate natural beauty.

With Children suffering from Cerebral Palsy communication & expressing themselves becomes very difficult. Sometimes it is due to their physical conditions & sometimes they force themselves to remain restricted. Besides overcoming their physical challenges, it is also necessary to enable them to express their feelings, emotions, thoughts freely. Every individual is born with artistic sensibilities and Children suffering from cerebral palsy are no different. Arts provides them a fantastic medium of expression.

Apart from the therapeutic value of arts in dealing with cerebral palsy. It provides children with a unique and effective mode of communication. They can express their anxiety, thoughts, fear, concepts in short how they feel about themselves and world surrounding them through paintings, craft work etc. It also gives them a hands on training for day to day activities. Artistic sensitivity helps in molding a child’s behavior, interpersonal communication, perceptions and actions. It allows the children to grow, evolve, reflect and understand themselves and society.

Painting, colours, crafts helps them to get a sense of accomplishment by allowing them being the part of decorations and imparting the feeling of joy & happiness. Their creativity is an indispensable part of the sensory play and art therapy. It allows the therapists to create a baseline for the future course of treatment.

Arts also is an integral part of the therapy children with cerebral palsy undergo.  The use of different colours, strokes and kind of paintings and crafts these children create, depict their psychological state which helps the therapist & family to understand them & know them better. Thus it’s just not a mere mode of expression but also a child’s journey can be measured through these reflections.