Cerebral Palsy Treatment/Support Group

It’s the fastest thing we as the human race know of 🤯

*HOW TO BOOST THE BRAIN OF OUR CHILDREN TWO TIMES FASTER*

The *three basic functions* of the brain that should be improved in our kids to make them academically unbeatable are:

1. *Thinking*

Most children find it *difficult to think*. It may sound laughable, but it is *an established truth*. It is not that they don't want to think, it is that their brains don't have what it takes to stimulate that function called, "thinking". *No child passes a class without thinking.* One must think before solving or answering a question correctly.

No matter how good a teacher is, if the child's brain doesn't have all it takes to stimulate thinking, the child will always fail.

Hear me, when a child has low electrical brain conductivity _due to deficiency of potassium, manganese and some variety of vitamins,_ the brain will not be able to stimulate brain cells responsible for thinking.

In this case, children with such deficiency will have problems with thinking.
Their brains appear very blunt, rigid and empty despite the large hours of teaching.

This is not all about the teacher and teaching skill, it is all about the child and the brain. Such a child needs help!

2. *Concentration*:

Many children have concentration difficulty. This is the inability to pay the needed attention required to stimulate a proper understanding of what is being taught.

As a teacher, you must have met some children that prefer to do something else other than listening, focusing or paying attention when teaching is going on.

A situation that most teachers get sad and *raise a cane*. Hold on, please! Before you raise a cane, hear me out.

The more you try to make them pay attention using a cane, the more they're distracted and frightened.

If you try harder, they'll begin to cry yet distracted.

Such children may have *low amount* of the following brain chemicals:- *Serotonin, Norepinephrine and Dopamine*, which are responsible for concentration and coordination.

This problem is not solved by giving the child more learning time.
It is not solved by employing a professor to come and teach the child, it is solved by a simple technique which I will tell you soon.

3. *Memory*

Many children *find it difficult to remember* what they were taught. This is a major reason for the failure of many children in school.

Passing an exam is dependent on how much of an answer a child can remember for a question.

Some don't even remember at all while some just remember a little but not enough for a credit.
When a child doesn't remember, *what then will the child write?* The Brain is responsible for memory and when the supply of the _brain chemicals called, "Luteolin and Lycopene"_ is inadequate to help the brain keep information for a long time, the affected child will find it very difficult to remember what was taught.

This is a serious problem that all teachers should understand *before you condemn* the child or *raise a cane,* check out the following information:

*HOW DO WE IMPROVE THE BRAIN OF A CHILD THAT IS HAVING THE ABOVE-MENTIONED COGNITIVE PROBLEMS?*

You *don't* really *need* a specialist that much. You only need *the right information*

Unfortunately, the solution lies in certain things we might have been ignoring _when we go to the market_ . The solutions are listed below:

*FRUITS*. How?

1. *Carrot*: how well do you *feed your children with carrot?* Let me explain.

*Carrot* is rich in the chemical called," Luteolin", which improves brain memory.
Ensure your kids get some quantity of carrot in their diet at least weekly.
This improves the brain cells responsible for *retentive memory* .

2. *Avocado*: wait a second! _Do you know that avocado is rich with monounsaturated fatty acid_ that helps oxygenated blood to flow well around the brain?
When brain doesn't receive enough oxygen, *the affected child* will have concentration problem. *Avocado can improve this situation.*

3. *Banana*: it is unbelievable to know that the banana most of us call common, is rich with _chemicals like, Serotonin, Norepinephrine and Dopamine_ that are responsible for concentration and coordination.

4. *Cashew nuts*: nuts from cashew have the variety of vitamins a child needs to help thinking.

5. *Guava*: Do you know that guava has the right amount of potassium needed to improve the electrical conductivity of the brain to help thinking?

6. *Pineapple*: it is amazing to know that pineapple has the variety of vitamins and manganese that can help thinking.

7. *Watermelon*: it is important I inform you that watermelon is rich in a chemical called, Lycopene that helps improve memory.

Therefore, *dear parents and educators,* you don't need to pay much to have all these things included in the diets of your children. Have their meals planned out in such a way that in every week they will have some of these fruits which will help their *thinking cells, concentration cells and memory cells* of their brains, so that when you apply the right teaching skills, you will have the desired results.

*Just give it a try, you'll not be disappointed .
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In our current world today, raising happy, secure children is more challenging than ever before.

Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World by Zig Ziglar offers optimistic and practical advice on raising children in a negative world.

Worship4Change to Raise N75m for Indigent Children with Special Needs, Holds Benefit Concert Oct. 4 in Lagos. Worship4Change, a leading not-for-profit organization in Nigeria will on October 3, 2022, hold 'Green Worship 5.0', a benefit concert

7 explanations to your baby's body language according to experts - Good Times Share this on WhatsAppFor new parents, it is certainly not easy to know whether your newborn baby cries because they are hungry or their dirty diaper needs changing. Luckily, there are actually ways to know what your baby means by just observing their body language. As simple as an open fist can act...

Early intervention is key in all Paediatric cases, whether Neurological or Orthopaedic, or Growth, Gait related etc.
We have come to know ,accept and internalize that Early Diagnosis, Assessment and steady unhindered followup Treatment and Neurodevelopmental Therapy are Master Keys at giving these Special Needs Children the Chance to meet up, flow with their Mates and make the best out of Life , will you give them a Chance today by bringing them in for Therapy @ Our Centre the very best! Physiotherapy Dept., University of Abuja Teaching Hospital Gwagwalada Abuja, just ask for Michael, am a Chief PT. there!
Care Givers ,NGOs we need Radio and TV Jingles for Awareness Campaign for early intervention ,Societal Awareness & Knowledge dissemination.
If you want to Sponsor this Campaign feel free to get in touch with me on call or WhatsApp @ +234-8128085315
+234-8033246002
Thanks PT.Michael Ezeadikwa

Cerebral Palsy Treatment/Support Group Raising awareness on early intervention and Neuro-developmental Therapy Treatment of Special Needs Children with "Cerebral Palsy".

The Foundation of reading is laid early in a Child's Life

The foundation for reading is laid early in a child’s life.

If there’s one thing most experts on reading agree on, it’s that there’s no such thing as “too early” when it comes to reading to your child. Long before they understand a single word, children’s brains start preparing them for the formidable task of reading.

The key message here is: The foundation for reading is laid early in a child’s life.

At just six months old, the visual system needed to recognize small symbols like letters is already fully functional.

And at 18 months old, children typically realize that everything around them has its own name.

In the early years that follow, children’s perception, attention, and conceptual systems develop at an incredible speed. That’s why reading to children at this time can have such a significant impact. When you read to young children, their own speech also becomes more sophisticated in the process.

This effect has been demonstrated by numerous studies. In one of them, reading researcher Victoria Purcell-Gates interviewed five-year-olds who had been read to at least five times a week for two years, and compared them to children who had not been read to as much. When asked about their fifth birthdays, the children who had been read to more often, used longer phrases, more complicated syntax, and special “literary” vocabulary, like “once upon a time.”

Unfortunately, the reverse effect is also well-documented. Children who come from language-impoverished homes, in which they were read and talked to little, have sometimes heard up to 32 million fewer words than their peers. As a consequence, they have a significantly smaller vocabulary, and struggle more with learning to read.

Moreover, when children learn early on to connect the shapes on the page to words and stories, they have an easier time learning to read later in life. First, children discover that there can be a one-to-one correspondence between a sound and a symbol. Then, they discover that each letter has a name, such as “p”, and sounds that it represents, such as “puh”. The brains of children who are often read to begin to connect their visual areas to the language areas long before any formal reading education.

And that’s not all! Reading stories of dragons, elves, and princesses to a young child also teaches them to see the world from someone else’s perspective and recognize others’ feelings. Books, in other words, teach us empathy.

The take-away here? Read to your Child!

Especially before bedtime.
This this reason Nigerians, don't open Books in their shelves or Libraries, never learn and repeat mistakes over and over, which would have been corrected if they rub minds with experienced people or people who have passed through experiences.

"Reading changes our Lives, and our Lives change by reading"

Children move through five stages of reading development, from pre-reader to expert.

Reading researcher Glenda Bissex has many charming stories to tell from when her children learned to read. Once, while she was distracted reading a book, her five-year-old son slipped her a note reading “RUDF.” When she asked what it was supposed to mean, he rolled his eyes. Clearly, he had written “R-U-D-F,” or “Are you deaf?” because she hadn’t reacted to his previous attempts to get her attention.

The key message in this blink is: Children move through five stages of reading development, from pre-reader to expert.

When children first learn to connect letters and sounds, they enter the first stage, and become pre-readers. During this stage, they often make hilarious mistakes. It’s hard to blame them – not only is it a tough task to tell individual sounds and letters apart in spoken language, but the pronunciation of individual letters can vary a lot. For example, in English, a vowel like “e” can stand for five different sounds, depending on the context.

Consider these lines from a poem by Mark Twain about the pains of learning English spelling:

“Beware of heard, a dreadful wordThat looks like beard and sounds like bird. And dead; it’s said like bed, not beadFor goodness sake, don’t call it deed!”

As children get better at using letters and learn to read easy words and sentences, they become novice readers, the second stage of reading development. Now, they begin to develop a basic understanding of the phonological, orthographic, and semantic principles of a language.

Novice readers often move through a familiar pattern of mistakes. First, they erroneously read words that make sense in context, but don’t actually resemble the word that’s written – like reading “dad” instead of “father” because they expect a book or sentence to use this word. Then, they erroneously read words that are orthographically similar, but don’t fit the context – like reading “horse” as “house,” a mistake an adult reader wouldn’t make. At the end of their novice reader learning journey, they only make errors when words are similar in orthography and context – like reading “bat” instead of “ball.”

Once they learn to avoid these pitfalls, children enter the third stage and become decoding readers. Now, they are able to read words and sentences smoothly. The larger their vocabulary, the faster and more fluent their reading. Instead of spending most of its energy on deciphering letters, their brain has the capacity to activate areas associated with meaning, understanding, and memory.

When reading has become fully automatic and increasingly involves higher levels of thinking, the child has become a fluent, comprehending reader – the fourth stage. The child now reads so well that his brain has ample time to comprehend, infer, and even predict the contents of a text.

The child now has access to millions of parallel universes through books and, as it hones and develops the skill of experiencing the world through reading, it finally it reaches the fifth and last stage and becomes a reading expert.

But this final stage is not a plateau, our reading skills never stop expanding.

Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf
Adapted by Michael Ezeadikwa

I wonder how many of our special needs children have been tested for vitamin D deficiency. I wonder how many are children are taking vitamin D3 daily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRZPw-9sJtQ

Doll test - The effects of racism on children (ENG) The "doll test" is a psychological experiment designed in the 1940s in the USA to test the degree of marginalization felt by African American children caused...

Hello my Special Needs Parents and Caregivers Worldwide. I should have posted this earlier, when the Pandemic hit the World. I want encourage you to implement, improve on and execute all you have been thought in your Neurodevelopmental therapy Sessions for our Special Needs Kids. We can not wish it away, procrastinate or postpone. Our Cerebral Palsy Special Needs Children won't wait for you as per growth and development ,positive or negative, ours is to do our best daily to practice with them all we've been thought.
Equally important as they make their continuous improvement in 'Developmental Strides and Milestones', is to Communicate with your Specialised Paediatric Physiotherapist to know the next line of action to practice and upgrade into. I urge you on, I know it's not easy, but in these days that people are home a lot, my prayers is that we make the most of it, with our Special Needs Children, Remain strong, focused, deliberate and determined -- PT.Michael Ezeadikwa UATH Abuja 08128085315 (WhatsApp)

Children with special needs. Kids with special needs are not weird or odd. They only want what everyone else wants. To be accepted. Share proudly on your wall to show...

Awesome!

The baby has jaundice?

And you want to use "early morning sun to cure it?"

You want to give Ampiclox and glucose water?

Read on...

*MIND THAT BABY'S SKIN COLOUR*

She came into the Consulting Room clutching the big child to her chest. A child she should have walked into the room.

Excited to see her after a long time.

I asked enthusiastically "Madam, good to see you. Where have you been?"

"Doctor, I cannot say we are fine because it has been rough sir" she responded rather reluctantly.

I was shocked. My heart sank. I could not hide the fact that her response rattled me.

"So sorry about that. Please tell me more" I said.

Then she went into the story, rather long and tortuous story.

"Remember I brought a baby to you when he was seven days old and we were admitted here for two weeks thereafter. This is the same child I am carrying here. The awful story. I had noticed on the third day of life that the skin was unusually brighter. Call it yellow and you will be right. It was my first pregnancy so I was not sure what it was. I shared my observation with Dele (not his real name), my husband. He sounded rather unconvinced. I thought the pressure of making arrangements for the christening ceremony was getting into his spirit. He had had to raise funds, meet with the clergies and hire an event planner. I knew it had been quite tasking for him, so I excused him and spoke with his mother, my mother-in-law. Mama laughed hysterically and told me I was bothered because I never met my father-in-law. She told me her husband was light complexioned hence, the baby must have taken after his grandfather. That was re-assuring. It was my first time! So, I had to believe Mama who was much more experienced. The following day, the baby got brighter as the yellowish discolouration became deeper. I was convinced that was no longer a matter of complexion but there was no one to talk to. Mama, my grandmother had already made her position known. Dele, my husband was hardly available. A reprief came when our neighbour who worked in a nearby Primary Health Centre came visiting. Not very sure what she was but she was very well known in the neighborhood as "Mummy Alabere" given her trade mark of administering injections to sick people. She confirmed the baby had jaundice but reassured me, it was nothing to worry about. She prescribed some oral medications including Ampiclox syrup and Glucose drinks and added that, the clearance would be faster if we could get water extract of unripe pawpaw for the baby to drink as frequently as possible. That was not a problem. Dele added those demands to his assignments. I administered the medicaments religiously according to Mama Alabere's prescriptions. By the evening of the sixth day, the baby actually took ill; running fever and rather limp. I was the only one who was bothered. Every other person around me believed I was hysterical. I sought to take the baby to the hospital but I was pressured to tarry a while so as not to disrupt the christening ceremony coming up the next day. The ceremony came and the pomp and pageantry was rich. I managed to put up a grin most of the time though, I was extremely anxious about my baby. The social event ended and the crowd of visitors and well wishers dispersed. Then the baby stopped suckling and screamed rather than cry; he began to twitch and jerk repeatedly. At that point, everybody agreed we needed to go to the hospital. Doctor, you remembered that was how we met you here!"

I nodded.

I had taken interest in her while the baby was on admission in the hospital because she was educated, could communicate in good English and seemed to have a good understanding of what was wrong with the baby. She complied with every instruction to the letter.
I recalled that the baby arrived at the hospital with established brain damage and the parents were duly informed that the baby had what we call kernicterus. The baby was treated, the jaundice cleared and the usual pink colour of a baby's skin returned. We held a few sessions of counseling to alert the parents to the likely complications of the condition. I usually stress that the most prominent complication is cerebral palsy, the inability to perform movements and maintain good posture, deafness and speech defects and convulsions. I also remember the woman siting right before me was full of questions back then while the husband was almost mute. As much as possible I gave the couple all the information they needed. Unfortunately, they were not seen in the hospital after that encounter.

"When the baby was eight months old, my fears began to evolve" she continued.
"The baby could not control the neck, could not sit right without supports, was always falling off when seated, never appeared to be interested in sounds around him and the excitement of playing with a happy baby was absent. I had prayed and hoped it would not happen according to your prediction. At that point, I realized I was in a deep mess. Yet, Dele, my husband was full of hopes. He believed the baby might just have had a delay just as his mother had told us that one of Dele's siblings, a banker, did not walk until a few days to his second birthday. Fast forward to the child's second birthday and nothing had changed. The child could not move of his own volition, always in bed like a log of wood. Due to his weight, it was a great burden carrying him around. Then Dele started comparing him, with so much bitterness, with other children of his age in the neighbourhood who all had started reciting nursery rhymes! We both started trading blames and guilt - who should have done what and who actually did what which was not needed. When the child was two and a half years old, Dele crashed my world. He told me he could not continue to waste his meager resources on the care of a brain damaged child. He would rather we started planning how to have another child. So, what becomes of this child? I remember he once told me he had no disabled person in his entire family, hence I should explain how I came about a child who stayed in one place like a python! How on earth could any right thinking person liken his own child to a beast! The emotional trauma actually took me to the land of depression and I could not forgive myself for not forcing myself out of the house to seek help in a hospital the moment I noticed the brighter skin and yellowish discolouration in the baby. No one could convince Dele to change his ways concerning the baby. He actually insisted I should take the child to my mother in the village because, according to him, the sight of the child always brought him great sadness. At that point, I had no alternative but to leave him. I went back to my parents' place to heal and concentrate on looking after my child. Of course, I lost my job in the process because I had no time for any other thing but him. It was like a dead end stuck with the child with no solution in sight, before it occurred to me to come back to you. Perhaps, there might be options we have not explored."

"So sorry to hear you have been through so much" I responded.

"It is unfortunate this happened. However, within the limits of our practice in this country and indeed, in most parts of the world, the brain damage cannot be reversed. A few experimental steps are known but the truth is, they are still experimental. We could only offer supports aimed at overcoming or reducing the impact of the various problems associated with kernicterus" I explained further.

I went into a long discourse of the various steps such as physical therapy to improve the muscle functions, use of braces, splints and walking frames to assist with standing erect, balancing and mobility, feeding devices to improve food intake, audiology and speech therapy for hearing and speech deficits etc. I encouraged her to get enrolled in the rehabilitation programme and be hopeful. I explained to her that the rehabilitation does not come cheap but with efficient rehabilitation, the child may still function well enough to learn and lead an independent life to some extent.

With tears rolling down her cheeks, she thanked me with a promise to return to the clinic the following week.

She lifted the child, hanged him on her shoulder and walked out of the room, obviously a severely broken woman!

POST SCRIPT

Unlike among the Caucasians where newborn babies are almost always pink, black and negroid babies appear darker though, most still have the pink colour. Therefore, black parents need to get familiar with the skin colour of their babies to facilitate early recognition of changes. Three factors militate against this: in this part of the world, we have a culture of overdressing newborn babies (to prevent them from getting cold, we say) despite the prevailing heat most of the times, with multiple layers of weather-unfriendly fabrics. Second is the culture of keeping newborn babies indoor in poorly lit rooms! Thirdly, most of the time, mothers do not handle, bathing and dressing babies up as there are usually many hands available for that. Mothers only get to feed the baby. So, mothers may not have the opportunity to examine the skin of their babies closely.

Jaundice refers to yellowish discolouration of the skin as a result of accumulation of a pigment known as bilirubin in the blood. The body normally generates bilirubin but the liver has the capacity to remove excess bilirubin so it does not accumulate in the blood. When bilirubin is produced in excess or the liver is unable to excrete bilirubin effectively, this harmful pigment accumulates in the blood. At that point, the white part of the eyes (surrounding the central dark area) and the skin turns almond yellow. This yellowish discolouration is known as jaundice. It is not in itself a disease, rather it is a manifestation of diseases. Erroneously referred to as "Yellow fever", jaundice is just a manifestation of "Yellow fever", which is an infection. Therefore, there are one thousand and one diseases which may manifest with jaundice. However, the difficulty in recognizing jaundice in the newborn arises from the fact that newborn babies almost always keep the eyes shut! Therefore, the skin readily comes in handy in checking babies for jaundice but this must be done in bright light. Also worthy of note is warning pregnant and expectant mother's about the dangers of having Camphor around the house or in their babies clothing bag.

Jaundice in the newborn is one of the reasons babies are hospitalized all over the world, because the pigment which accumulates and causes yellowish discolouration of the skin is also toxic to body tissues, particularly the brain. This is why newborn jaundice is classified as an emergency because it can cause irreversible brain damage early in life. Therefore, jaundice is beyond just skin colour changes.

Jaundice in the newborn, arises in most cases from some of the changes which take place within the body, as a result of transition from life in the womb, to life outside the womb. This is the type which clears spontaneously, even without treatment, within the first week of life. Jaundice may also arise from disease conditions and these are the ones that are likely to require treatment or be fatal. Incompatibilities between the blood groups of the mother and the baby, prematurity, infections and blood disorders such as one known as G6PD deficiency are the other common causes of newborn jaundice. G6PD deficiency is the most notorious for causing brain damage in newborn jaundice in our setting but that does not imply jaundice from other disease conditions do not cause brain damage. Of course, they do, depending on the amount of bilirubin generated and the ability of the liver to clear the load of bilirubin.

Close to two thirds of newborn babies develop jaundice within the first week of life. It is that common. Most of these cases are harmless and will clear without treatment, by the end of the first week of life because they are caused by natural changes in the body rather than diseases. However, there is a small proportion of newborn jaundice which is harmful and will cause brain damage if not treated. These are the ones caused by diseases. The unfortunate aspect is that it is virtually impossible to take a look at a baby with jaundice and predict whether it is the harmless type or the dangerous type! This is why every baby with jaundice must get to see an expert in the hospital and blood test for measuring bilirubin in the blood must be done. There are so many uncertainties about newborn jaundice. Brain damage occurs when bilirubin accumulates in the blood beyond a permissible level and it spills into the brain. Unfortunately, it is also difficult to predict the rate at which bilirubin rises in the blood hence, it is difficult to predict when bilirubin may spill into the brain! This is another reason why, newborn jaundice is an emergency.

Unfortunately, once the brain is stained by bilirubin, the damage it causes is permanent and irreversible. Between a third and a half of babies whose brain gets stained with bilirubin will die within a few days of the illness while the remaining, who do not have appropriate treatment, may survive with manifestations of brain damage. The features of brain damage include poor use of movement and poor control of posture which usually presents as inability to sit without support or inability to stand or walk without supports. In summary, a normal child should hold the neck steady at about three months, move the arm towards objects at about four to five months, sit without support at about five to six months, crawl between seven and eight months, stand at about ten months and be able to walk unaided at about a year or a year and a half. In children with brain damage caused by bilirubin, those developmental milestones summarised above are almost severely delayed. A one year old may not be able to even control the neck. Other problems include deafness, speech delay (following deafness) and convulsive disorders. In a few cases, the intellect is also affected and school learning may be difficult.

Is brain damage caused by bilirubin preventable? Yes, with emphasis!!!!

The way to go is for everybody to learn how to recognize jaundice in the newborn baby within the first week of life and seek APPROPRIATE care if detected. Emphasis is on the first to second week of life because that is the time the brain is most vulnerable to the damaging effect of Bilirubin. As stated earlier, babies always keep the eyes shut; so in order to check the skin for jaundice, undress the baby in bright light, use a finger to apply slight pressure over the tip of the nose, chin, gum or chest for about 30 seconds, then lift the finger and observe the underlying yellowish colour under the skin. Please note that this is to be differentiated from blanching which leaves an almost white colour after pressure on the skin. It is best to do that on a daily or twice daily basis rather than waiting till the child opens the eyes.

Most cases of brain damage from excessive bilirubin in our setting occur because parents delay in seeking effective and appropriate help but rather, keep busy with other things, particularly preparations for christening ceremony and the need to minimize expenses till the ceremonies are over. Science, as at today has not shown that any of the home remedies popularly used does anything to bilirubin, be it Ampiclox, or Glucose drinks or pawpaw leaf extract. Therefore, in essence, investing time in home care for newborn jaundice is tantamount to deliberate waste of useful time and taking risk of preventable complications. The tendency is, once the home remedies are commenced, the reaction is likely to favour giving more time for the medications to work whereas the medications have no effect and do nothing. While waiting, the Bilirubin in the blood keeps rising till it gets to a critical level when it spills into the brain. By the time, the parents, usually the mother, realizes that nothing has been achieved by way of home care, the damage could have been done! Sadly, it is irreversible.

Once newborn jaundice is detected, please do not let anybody, of whatever profession reassure you that it is not significant or it is just mild and nothing to worry about WITHOUT RUNNING BLOOD TESTS. The blood level of Bilirubin is most critical in deciding whether jaundice is mild, insignificant or severe and dangerous!! The results must be interpreted by experts who know how to relate the results to the age of the baby. These are important considerations in decision taking for newborn jaundice. This is why the baby must be taken to the hospital to see a paediatrician. It definitely is worth the troubles.

Jaundice in the newborn is definitely beyond just the skin colour. The brain is at risk. Life is at risk! The family structure is at stake! Careers are at stake! Coping with a child who has suffered brain damage, from any cause is tasking; emotionally, financially and physically. It is understandable if it were caused by a non-preventable cause, but brain damage occurring from a preventable condition like newborn jaundice is unimaginable in the 21st century.

You don't wanna live with a huge feeling of guilt for a better part of your life....... then mind the baby' s skin colour and take appropriate action!

~|~ TINUADE OGUNLESI

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*RoseValley Health Education Series*