How to Improve Balance With Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is hard to understand for the simple fact that there are different types, and a wide spectrum of severities. These vary depending upon the cause of the condition. The hard part of treatment is that each patient requires customized treatment because each situation is different. Of the many possible things affected as a result of cerebral palsy is the ability to maintain balance while walking and doing other activities. Finding and using ways to improve balance will help any person with cerebral palsy, but will help some more than others. Continue on to learn about how to improve balance with cerebral palsy.

Things You'll Need

• Balance boards
• Log or similar object

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Instructions

Determine Starting Ground

• 1

  Before determining what techniques to use to improve balance with cerebral palsy, you should first determine the current state of their development and ability, both mental and physical. Good balance is important for development, as better balance is required for each stage of physical development from lying down, sitting, to creeping, crawling, and walking, so the younger you start working on improvement, the better.

• 2

  Here is an example guideline for how to classify the balance ability of the child. If by the time the child is 10 months old, he cannot sit up without falling to the side with little or no attempt to catch herself, then balance is poor. If he can balance using their arms after a gentle push from you, then balance is fair. If he can sit by bending the body without the assistance of the arms, then the balance is good.

• 3

  With a small child, mental developmental delays may or may not become evident alongside developmental milestones. Mental developmental delays are not always a characteristic of CP and the mental delay will be harder to spot in the early stages of life if one occurs at all. Treat a child mentally as you would their real age until or unless you see signs of a delay--and do not acknowledge the developmental issues as a "bad" thing. This is more important for older children or adults with mental delays because of the gap (and varying sizes of the gap for each case) between the physical and mental development will mean that you have to alter your approach. If you are a parent of a child with CP, your doctor or diagnosis will likely assist or tell you the mental age as compared to the physical so this will help get you started, but expect the two to remain unrelated, because the gap may close or widen before it stabilizes and nothing says you cannot help it to close at any point.

• 4

  To get an idea of the mental age of the child, look at what she is doing well. Look at a chart of developmental milestones, find the last one that she is displaying, and you will have an estimate. Consider this against the physical age of the child to see the gap. Of course, this is not as accurate as testing provided by a professional.

• 5

  Knowing the mental age of the child helps you because you know how to approach them in regards to the activities you will do to improve the balance. For instance, if you want them to try something new and know that they think like a 4-year-old even though they are a 10-year-old, talking to them on that level is not bad, because it is the level they understand. The lesson is, identify with the mental age regardless of the physical age when you are deciding what to do.

The Activities

• 6

  Abnormal or strange movements and posture are common, so do activities to help the child try to learn how to do more. The point is to strengthen and improve, never to correct. Give praise for the effort, and lots of praise when you see consistency in the ability to do something you've been working on. Never punish for the lack of effort or inability to improve, as it is likely to create more of a setback.

• 7

  Use balance boards. If the child cannot stand or walk, allow the child to sit on the board to improve the balance skill. If he or she can stand, promote that instead of sitting. The child is likely to fall. The inability to balance properly may create a fear of falling for the child, so always encourage and prepare them so that you will be there in the event that the child does fall, to protect them from injury. If they fall and you catch them, do not discourage them from trying again. Motivate them to try again but do not force them. Over time, you will see improvement in stages and no matter how small the improvement, praise it.

• 8

  Use the log to promote the use of balancing (while sitting) without the arms. Sit the child on the log and see how well she can sit. If she falls, show her to use her arms to catch her instead of stabilizing her. Keep working and praising efforts and improvements over time.

• 9

  Encourage twisting, reaching, shifting weight from one side to the other, and moving from side to side or backward (mainly for walking children) through various exercises. Offer assistance as needed, be there for comfort, and gradually allow the child to do more themselves. Do not push the progression, but suggest it. Gently push the child to encourage him to catch himself, and tilt him to encourage him to use his body to balance.