Disability for cerebral palsy is given not on the basis of an existing diagnosis, but if the disease is accompanied by limitations in life activity. In this case, it means limited ability to move, speak, self-care, and learn. It has different degrees severity, but in many cases it leads to disability. This disease is not considered genetic, but is congenital. This is what makes it special.

For what reasons does a child develop cerebral palsy?

The main cause of this serious disease is considered to be damage to parts of the brain, responsible for the functioning of the whole body. Damage to a child’s brain can begin in the womb, from the first days of life, or during childbirth.

The following factors can increase the likelihood of developing cerebral palsy:

intrauterine infections;
low hemoglobin in pregnant women;
infection of the nervous system in an infant;
difficult childbirth;
asphyxia during childbirth.

In addition, alcohol abuse by a woman during pregnancy significantly increases the likelihood of developing cerebral palsy. It is quite difficult to determine whether a child has this disease. early age. The fact is that the baby’s physical activity is limited, and he sleeps for a long part of the day. Only the most severe forms of the disease can be detected at this early stage. As the baby develops, some abnormalities may occur, usually 2 months after birth.

To identify cerebral palsy in a child, a neurologist prescribes a list of medical examinations that can be used to make a correct diagnosis. In infants, neurosonography is used for this (examination of parts of the brain through the fontanel). For older children, the procedure of electroencephalography and electroneuromyography is used to determine muscle performance. If the diagnosis is confirmed, the child with cerebral palsy is assigned a disability group.

How can you visually identify this disease?

Initially, you should observe how the child’s arms and legs function correctly. Cerebral palsy can cause spasms motor activity both upper and lower extremities. In addition to this, the muscle fibers are under great tension, so that they are difficult to bend or straighten. Symptoms of lethargy are also likely, in which there are difficulties in moving the arms and legs.

The other is hyperkinesis. With it, involuntary movements are observed in the muscle structures. If the described symptoms are detected, the child must be seen immediately by a doctor. These signs can lead to severe disability.

During the life of the child, other manifestations or complications may be noticeable. These include impaired speech abilities due to spasm of the speech apparatus. This leads to the child starting to stutter or speaking slowly. In addition, cerebral palsy can be accompanied by a mental disorder from the simplest to the most severe form. The final stage of this disorder is oligophrenia.

Today, modern equipment is used to detect cerebral palsy in a timely manner. At the same time, the rehabilitation period is most successful for children. In order to make a diagnosis, various examinations are prescribed depending on age.

Only an institution can recognize a child as disabled civil service medical and social examination. At this point, the health status and degree of activity limitation of the disabled person is assessed.

What benefits does disability give to a child?

The main reason for calling for disability registration for a child with cerebral palsy is pension payments provided by the state. These are funds intended for the purchase of necessary medications and various means for caring for a disabled child.

In addition to pension accruals, a disabled child has the right to the following benefits:

free travel in the city public transport(except taxi);
benefits for travel by rail, air and river transport;
free treatment in a sanatorium;
providing disabled people with necessary medical equipment;
free receipt medicines in a pharmacy according to a prescription prescribed by a doctor.

These rights are granted not only to disabled children, but also to their mothers. This is a benefit when calculating tax payments on income received, the right to a reduced work schedule, additional leave, as well as immediate retirement. Receipt of benefits will depend on what disability group the child is given.

Group 1 is considered the most dangerous and is assigned to a child who does not have the ability to carry out independent care without anyone’s help (move, eat, dress, etc.). At the same time, a disabled person does not have the opportunity to fully communicate with people around him, and therefore needs regular supervision.

Disability group 2 implies some restrictions in the above manipulations.

Also, a child who received group 2 does not have the ability to learn.

However, it is possible to obtain knowledge in institutions designated for these purposes for disabled children with disabilities.

Group 3 is assigned to a disabled person who is able to individually carry out movements, communicate, and learn. But at the same time, children have a delayed reaction, and therefore require additional monitoring due to their health status.

Disability in cerebral palsy

As mentioned above, children receive disability when diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Mandatory assistance in documenting disability must be provided by a doctor at the site. In addition, he must give a referral for a medical examination. At the next stage, a medical and sanitary examination (MSE) is carried out, with the help of which the diagnosis is confirmed. When preparing for its passage, it is necessary to clarify the severity of motor disorders, the degree of damage to the hand, the degree of impairment of support, speech, mental disorder and other factors.

Parents must prepare the required documents in order to register a disability group for a child with cerebral palsy. The kit includes: a referral received at the clinic, with the results of the studies performed, a birth certificate, a passport of one of the parents, an application, a certificate of registration from the housing office, photocopies of all necessary documents. In addition to this, you may need other documents that confirm your general state of health (examination results or hospital notes).

Within about a month, parents should be given a certificate on the basis of which a certain disability group will be assigned. This document should be submitted to the Pension Fund to process pension payments.

Thus, childhood illnesses can be quite serious, as in the case of cerebral palsy. If the child has this pathology, he must be assigned a disability group by a higher authority. Disabled children have the right to free medical care and life-sustaining medications.

Besides medical care Children with cerebral palsy also need pedagogical assistance. To do this, parents, together with teachers, must draw up a comprehensive plan for influencing a disabled child. It should include classes on teaching correct movements, therapeutic exercises, massage, and work on exercise machines. The main role is given to early speech therapy activities.

The result of physiotherapeutic and speech therapy is enhanced by drug treatment.

However, it is completely impossible. But with timely measures and correct behavior of parents and teachers, a disabled child can achieve enormous success in independent care and acquiring skills.

Probably, few people have not heard about such an increasingly common congenital disease as cerebral palsy or cerebral palsy. Usually, such a diagnosis is made during pregnancy to an unborn baby, but this does not mean for him and his parents that they have signed a death sentence. It is known that people suffering from cerebral palsy often become successful programmers, lawyers, psychologists, and so on; cerebral palsy is only a physical deviation from the norm that can be dealt with. Of course, it can be very difficult to overcome cerebral palsy on your own, which is why the most important place in the process of caring for and treating such a baby is occupied by state assistance.

The diagnosis of cerebral palsy belongs to the list of diseases that require registration of disability. Many parents are afraid of this status and do not want to legitimize it, which becomes a rather serious mistake on their part. It is known that constant and competent care, complex therapy, massages, medications, special exercise equipment - all this can help a child achieve greater mobility of the limbs, and the sooner the child begins to receive such help, the greater the chance that he will walk almost like any other person .

The necessary medications and complexes of various therapies are quite expensive, and registration of disability eliminates some of the problems. A disabled child with cerebral palsy has the right to receive from the state not only a special pension, but he is also entitled to a certain list of other guarantees.

Benefits and pensions for a child with cerebral palsy

The average amount of benefits that a family raising a disabled child receives every month is about 20 thousand rubles. This amount includes not only the pension itself, due to a disabled person(about nine thousand rubles), but also some social payments, such as a monthly payment, which can be replaced with a free sanatorium or medicine, travel expenses, etc., as well as social payments to parents who do not work in order to provide care for a sick child with cerebral palsy and other types of social benefits.

For a family with a special child monthly amount cannot be superfluous, because the child needs medicine, special shoes, clothing, and special exercise equipment for home exercises. Therefore, parents should not refuse to register a disability for their child in his own interests, especially since, in addition to cash payments, the state offers families of children with cerebral palsy other types of assistance.

Guarantees for disabled children with cerebral palsy

Of course, like any other child with disabilities, such special children have the right to free education, higher education on preferential terms, free books, travel, and so on. But up to a certain point, the most important thing remains precisely health care, which the state will provide to such a baby.

First of all, a child with cerebral palsy has the right to participate in a rehabilitation program. It includes not only free medicines, but also much more. For example, a child with cerebral palsy has the right to undergo treatment annually in a sanatorium, take free courses of physiotherapy, massage, and also take a course every few months physical therapy on specially designed simulators.

Also, as part of the program to help children with cerebral palsy, the families of such children can receive free from the state special shoes, mobility aids if the child cannot walk independently, home exercise equipment and other orthopedic aids necessary for the child.

All these types state aid Subject to the recommendations of doctors and the boundless love of parents for their child, they can help the baby quickly adapt to life, learn to walk and live a full, albeit not so active, life.

Cerebral palsy groups

Cerebral palsy is traditionally divided into three main groups.

The first group is true cerebral palsy. This is the most complex form of the disease, which is characterized by the presence of hereditary factors and genetic disorders in the embryonic development of the fetus.

A fetus with such lesions is underdeveloped, its cerebral convolutions are weakly expressed, the cerebral cortex is also underdeveloped, and there is no clear differentiation of the gray and white matter of the brain. At the time of birth, such a fetus turns out to be intellectually and biologically defective; it has a number of other quite serious anatomical and functional lesions of the brain.

Reasons for the development of primary infantile paralysis It turns out there are several, these include genetic disorders and the impact of various unfavorable factors on the fetal brain. In most of these cases, the severity of brain damage is incompatible with life. If such a child can be saved, it is impossible to restore the normal functioning of his brain and spinal cord. According to official statistics, children with such a severe diagnosis account for no more than 10% of the total number of patients with cerebral palsy.

The second group of cerebral palsy. This group includes cases of acquired true cerebral palsy. Reasons for the development of this serious illness there are also several:

Severe birth injuries with cerebral hemorrhage;
- the traumatic effect of toxic substances on the fetal brain, including the effect of anesthesia;
- severe infectious brain damage in late pregnancy or during childbirth.

All these conditions can have a traumatic effect on brain cells, cause their death and form a severe picture of the disease.

Main hallmark Cerebral palsy of the second type from the first group is the absence of a hereditary nature of the lesion. When active rehabilitation therapy such patients can be more or less adapted to life in society, so that adult life serve yourself independently and move independently. Statistics show that the number of patients with this form of cerebral palsy also does not exceed 10%.

The third group of the disease is non-acquired, non-true cerebral palsy. In most cases, this disease can be considered a secondary cerebral palsy syndrome. This group is the most numerous - about 80% of patients suffer from this particular form of cerebral palsy. Such children at the time of birth have a fully formed, intellectually and biologically complete brain. Reason various violations The functioning of parts of the brain is affected by birth injuries, which leads to disruption of certain functions.

The main difference between these children and the first two groups is that they retain their intelligence and have good opportunities to restore impaired functions. The main causes of the development of cerebral palsy of the third group are oxygen deprivation of the fetal brain during the period of perinatal development, exposure to toxic substances or incorrect delivery techniques.

More information about the disease and its treatment

Causes of cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy groups
Forms of cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy statistics
Exercise therapy for cerebral palsy
Symptoms and signs of cerebral palsy in children
Treatment methods for cerebral palsy
Rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy
Features of the development of children with cerebral palsy
Mental development of children with cerebral palsy
Speech development of children with cerebral palsy
Mental development of children with cerebral palsy
Physical development of children with cerebral palsy
Massage for cerebral palsy
Exercises for children with cerebral palsy
Treatment of cerebral palsy in China
Treatment of cerebral palsy in Israel
Treatment of cerebral palsy in Hungary
Treatment of cerebral palsy in Germany
Treatment of cerebral palsy in the Czech Republic

In a wheelchair for information

Government program " Accessible environment”, which sets a goal by 2016 to make people with disabilities unhindered access “to priority facilities and services in priority areas of life”, should also improve the mechanism of the state system of medical and social examination. What is the problem with this examination? Its passage often costs parents bitter tears, and turns into hard work and humiliation for families.

Fortunately for Muscovites, they have the same hospital No. 18, which was mentioned in connection with the visit of D.A. Medvedev. All the specialists necessary for the examination work there, there is a special room for conducting ITU, and a mother with a sick child manages to undergo the examination relatively painlessly. Why hasn't this become the norm? Why can’t the same ITU work be organized on the basis of a district clinic or hospital?

Unfortunately, the norm today is a procedure that is extremely painful for the mother and the child with cerebral palsy. First you need to see a pediatrician, neurologist, psychiatrist, surgeon, orthopedist, ophthalmologist, ENT specialist, having previously made an appointment with each. The clinic does not always have all the specialists, which means you won’t be able to get around them in one day or in one place. If the child is not walking, then the mother comes to the clinic in her arms with him and asks other patients sitting in front of the office to let her through out of turn. Yes, she has the legal right to go first, but this does not save her from hostility and sometimes rudeness, but the mother of a seriously ill child already has enough negative emotions in her life.

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After each specialist examines the patient and writes his report, you need to come to an appointment with the head of the children's clinic to draw up a final report, then stand in a huge queue of disabled people in the area at the adult clinic and go through the procedure of reconciling the collected documents. It is advisable to come here without a child, which means finding someone in advance to spend the day with him, which is also a problem if the family does not have a non-working but strong grandmother living nearby.

But that's not all. The package of signed papers must be submitted to the document collection point for medical and social examination, which is not located in the clinic, which means this is another trip, which is always problematic for the mother of a child with cerebral palsy. Natalya Koroleva, the mother of a nine-year-old girl with cerebral palsy and project coordinator for the Our Children charity foundation, told me that the city of Zheleznodorozhny, where her family lives, does not have its own expertise at all. For each re-examination, she and her daughter have to travel to the city of Elektrostal and spend the day in queues, first for the examination, then for registration of an individual rehabilitation program (IRP).

"We're still lucky- says Natalya, - My Masha’s disability was established until October 2021, until she is 18 years old. But there are commissions where parents with a seriously ill child are simply bullied, forced to undergo medical examination every two years.” .In addition, when a disabled child, as prescribed by a specialist, requires a new technical means of rehabilitation that is not included in the current IPR, then the entire procedure of medical and social examination must be completed again and a new IPR must be drawn up! “Why can’t a new means of rehabilitation be included in the IPR and a conclusion be attached? doctors that the child needs it? Why put us through this whole nightmare again?” - parents complain bitterly.

Registration of disability is a vital issue for the family of a child with cerebral palsy, because it is a pension and benefits. With benefits, however, not everything is so simple. If previously, according to the law, the family had the right to purchase the necessary technical auxiliary and rehabilitation means (corsets, splints, orthoses, strollers, crutches), and then receive from the state monetary compensation, then since February 2011 this law has not been in effect, and the parents of a sick child must either take what the state purchased on a tender basis - that is, the cheapest and poorest quality - or pay for expensive and high-quality ones out of their own pockets, being satisfied with only partial compensation. A pair of quality orthopedic shoes produced by Perseus LLC costs about 30,000 rubles, and compensation in the Moscow region is only 9,300. An accessible environment outside the home will not become accessible even with ramps, specially equipped toilets and lifts in the metro, if the family does not have money for good couple orthopedic shoes.

Registered disability is an opportunity free treatment in federal and regional sanatoriums and rehabilitation centers. And here a family with a sick child faces another contradiction between the declarations of doctors and officials and the harsh reality. It is recognized all over the world and in our country: the best time for rehabilitation is from birth to three years, but alas, a number of rehabilitation centers refuse to accept children without disabled status, and it is often possible to register disability no earlier than three years, since doctors do not rush with the diagnosis. But if we make rehabilitation centers accessible to children at risk, the number of those who will have to register for disability at the age of three will decrease. Not only the child and his family will benefit, but also the state, which will not have to spend additional funds to support an unhealthy member of society throughout his life.

Of all the “socially significant objects” discussed in the “Accessible Environment” program, the most significant for a child is, of course, a children’s educational institution. But for children with moderate and severe cerebral palsy there are no special kindergartens or groups stay in ordinary gardens. When it’s time to go to school, parents again find themselves in a situation where they have to fight for the rights of the child declared by the Constitution and the Law of the Russian Federation “On Education”.

The PMPK - Psychological-Medical-Pedagogical Commission - is becoming a real nightmare for children and parents. According to the law, the decision of the PMPC is advisory in nature and applies only to the type of program: for example, children with lesions of the musculoskeletal system study according to the 6th type program, there is a 7th type program - correctional, 8th type - auxiliary, for children with diagnosed intellectual disability.

Parents have the right to choose the form of education (school, home-based, family) and educational institution for their child, but quite often they are denied this, citing the decision of the PMPC: if the decision says “type 8 program,” then the child is enrolled in a type 6 school they won't take it. A few days before visiting the commission, mothers, and even fathers, drink valerian, because for them it is worse than the most difficult exam: in 20-40 minutes of communication with their son or daughter, specialists will draw conclusions about the child’s abilities and his readiness to learn and master the program. They will not make allowance for the child’s excitement caused by an unfamiliar environment, the presence of many new people, or overexcitement caused by a long wait in the corridor, but their verdict will determine the lifestyle of the child and family for the next year, or even several years, it depends on how much education will be available that actually corresponds to the child’s capabilities, will he be able to communicate with peers, and participate in the life of the children’s group.

Often children with cerebral palsy, with intact intellectual abilities, end up in type 8 schools, in home education (with one visiting teacher), or in distance learning without the opportunity to socialize. The sad thing is that when passing the PMPC again, specialists tend to leave the decision of the previous commission in force. At the same time, there are no permanent commissions, specialists change, and no one monitors the dynamics of a child’s development over several years. What is it like for a little man to appear before new uncles and aunts every time to show what he can do? Here even an adult will lose his nerve.

There is another painful problem. Cerebral palsy often presents with what is known in PMPK parlance as a “complex disability.” And with this “complex character” it is completely difficult to organize a child’s education at least at home, because for someone who does not speak, does not move independently, but has intact intelligence, or walks, speaks, but at the same time almost does not see, no training programs have been developed.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Says Alla Sablina, president of the Our Children charity foundation for children with cerebral palsy: “A barrier-free environment in schools is wonderful, but it’s not just ramps and other technical devices. Physical barriers are easy to deal with, fortunately federal budget allocated funds for this. It’s much more difficult to break down barriers in people’s heads; financial investments are not enough.”

Alla is absolutely right, at least read the reviews on the article by Anstasia Otroshchenko, from which it is clear that many readers still do not understand what inclusion is, and are seriously concerned that their healthy children are at risk of a decrease in the quality of knowledge due to the proximity of children with special needs needs. But the article very sensibly and intelligibly explains what the advantage of this approach to teaching is for absolutely all children, without dividing into sick and healthy. It’s also sad to read the review of the mother of a special needs child, who writes about the fact that her son was beaten by his classmates. These are the barriers in the minds of both adults and children, which will take years and years of hard work to overcome.

And yet there are breakthroughs. For the second year now, an inclusion class has been operating at secondary school No. 8 in the city of Zheleznodorozhny, Moscow region. This is a joint educational project of the Our Children Foundation, the Federal Institute for Educational Development and the Ministry of Education of the Moscow Region. The costs of equipment (special seats, special keyboards for computers, etc.), methodological support, and retraining of specialists were paid by philanthropists through the Our Children Foundation. The status of the experiment made it possible to reduce the class size: there are only 20 students in the class, two of them are children with severe forms of cerebral palsy who cannot move independently. It would seem like a drop in the ocean, but how important this experience is for all of us. Through the efforts of parents, enthusiasts and philanthropists, an educational model is being created, which sooner or later the state will be forced to copy: the entire civilized world is switching to it, having realized the destructiveness of dividing children into “norm” and “non-norm”.

“We worked a lot with the parents of ordinary children, taught kindness lessons to the students,” says Alla, “and today everyone notes how warm the relationship is between the children in the class, how the children try to help their friends with limited mobility. Classmates miss children with cerebral palsy when one of them gets sick and does not attend school for several days. It seems surprising, but the parents of healthy children from this class are now confident: inclusion changes life for the better for everyone, not just for sick children.”

In the second experimental class 9-year-old Masha Koroleva, who has cerebral palsy with a complex structure of the defect, also studies at school No. 8. The girl enjoys going to school, although it is not easy for her. Masha finds it difficult to write, and now she is mastering the keyboard, mathematics is not easy, but the quality of her new life is incomparable to what it was before. A whole world opened up outside the apartment and the hospital, friends appeared, a favorite teacher, a diary with assignments, school lessons and fun holidays.

I really want the barriers to collapse not only for Masha, but also for other children with cerebral palsy and their parents, for society as a whole, for the healthy and the sick, the strong and the weak, so that in any life situation For each of us, the environment remained accessible and the climate sunny.

Cerebral palsy (CP). Are children diagnosed with cerebral palsy a sin of modern medicine? Groups of cerebral palsy