Cerebral Palsy (CP) describes a group of permanent disorders of movement and posture caused by non-progressive damage to the developing brain (often due to injury or abnormal development during the prenatal, perinatal, or infant period). The motor impairments in CP can range from mild to severe and often include spasticity (stiff, tight muscles), involuntary movements, or problems with balance and coordination, depending on the type and distribution of brain injury. Children and adults with CP frequently have related difficulties such as seizures, intellectual disabilities, or sensory impairments, and importantly, CP can impact speech and feeding: many individuals exhibit dysarthria (motor speech difficulties) and may have trouble with articulating words or controlling breath and voice for speech.
SLPs play a key role in managing communication and swallowing in people with cerebral palsy – they provide therapy to improve speech intelligibility, language development, and safe eating/drinking, and often introduce augmentative and alternative communication methods when spoken language is limited.
Sadowska, Małgorzata, Beata Sarecka-Hujar, and Ilona Kopyta. “Cerebral Palsy: Current Opinions on Definition, Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Classification and Treatment Options.” Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment 16 (2020).
Mei, Cristina, Sheena Reilly, Molly Bickerton, et al. “Speech in Children with Cerebral Palsy.” Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 62 (2020).
