Physical Disabilities

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Physical Disabilities

• Chapter 12

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Physical Disabilities 

• Orthopedic impairment means a severe orthopedic
  impairment that adversely affects a child's
  educational performance. The term includes
  impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g.,
  clubfoot, absence of some member, etc.),
  impairments caused by disease (e.g.,
  poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and
  impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral
  palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that
  cause contractures).

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Cerebral Palsy

• cerebral (brain) palsy (describes the lack of
  muscle control that affects a persons ability to
  move and to maintain balance and posture).
• Impairment occurs in the brains development
  usually by 6 years of age
• Not progressive
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• Four types
• Spastic involves tightness in one or more
  muscle groups accounts for 70-80 of
  individuals with CP
• Athetoid involves abrupt involuntary movement of
  the hear, neck, face, and extremities,
  particularly the upper ones
• Ataxic involves unsteadiness, lack of
  coordination and balance, vary degrees of
  difficulty with standing and walking
• Mixed combines spastic muscle tone and the
  involuntary movements of athethoid cerebral palsy

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Causes

• prenatal infection or brain malformation
• perinatal - lack of oxygen or infection
• postnatal - brain injury or meningitis

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Spina Bifida

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• Refers to a malformation of the spinal cord
• Spinal column does not close completely and/or
  cover the spinal cord
• Typically the defect causes complete or partial
  paralysis of only the persons lower extremities
  and loss of skin sensation.
• Its not a progressive condition
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• Three common forms
• spina bifida occulta mildest and most common
• meningocele more serious does not cause a person
  to experience mobility impairment
• myclomeningocele most serious
• varying degrees of leg weakness
• inability to control bowels or bladder
• variety of physical problems

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• exact causes of spinal bifida are unknown but
  occurs during very early days of pregnancy
• folic acid (a B-vitamin ) reduces risk of neutral
  tube defects such as spina bifida
• 75 with normal intelligence

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Muscular Dystrophy

• Refers to a group of 9 hereditary
  muscle-destroying disorders that vary in
  inheritance pattern, age of onset, muscles
  initially attacked, and rate of progression
• Spinal muscular atrophy muscle weakness and
  wasting away of muscles.
• Prone to respiratory problems including pneumonia
  
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• It attacks specialized nerve cells called motor
  neurons which control the movement of voluntary
  muscles
• what causes spinal muscular atrophy autosomal
  recessive disease both parents must by carriers
  of the genes that cause this kind of atrophy
• Skeletal problems such as scoliosis prone to
  pneumonia another respiratory problems.

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Prevalence

• Hard to determine because of comorbidity with
  other conditions
• 67,442 students ages 6-21 received physical
  disabilities services during 1999-2000 school
  year
• 0.11 of all students receiving SPED services

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Prevention

• Some approaches available
• Ex fetal surgery on children with spina bifida

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Determining the presence

• Prenatal
• Amniocentesis
• Ultra-sonogram images of fetus
• Postnatal
• Apgar screening (most common)

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Assuring Progress in General Curriculum

• Adaptations of instruction for mobility and
  communication reasons. Assistive technology (AT).
• (AT) for mobility low tech and high tech
• (AT) for communication augmentative and
  alternative communication
• Collaboration involves professionals (health
  education), student and family