Cerebral Palsy and the Mind/Brain Problem

Literature about CP is riddled with references to "lack of intellect" and "low IQ" even when evidence and just the very definition of CP shows that it is truly a brain-based disorder. Sometimes disabling of the thought processes is a side effect of having CP, but often children with CP simply lack the means to express what they think or want to say, and this is often mistakenly taken as a sign of low intelligence. The unfortunate terms used to describe CP, such as "spastic" may serve to promote false ideas about intellect as well because of their negative connotations. Since they serve as medical descriptive terms, I don’t think they should be changed, but what we need to do is have a "mulidimensional approach to children with disabilities, leading to a specific terminology whose implications on management can objectively improve function" (14), rather than reduce mental impairment.

Studies on the fine motor movements of children with CP can give some insight into what the children actually know internally. It has now been shown that what was once thought of as a complete lack of ability to plan motor movements in CP children is actually the result of an interference with sensory mechanisms (15). The consequence of this interference (due to CP) is an incomplete "internal representation "(15,16) of, for example, and object the child wants to pick up. Yet, what’s truly amazing is the child’s ability to learn to anticipate—Often, they can learn to do the same tasks as children without CP—it just takes a little longer!

A good summary of what I’ve just described is: "Patients with Cerebral Palsy do form internal images of the objects they handle and do use this information in a feedforward fashion to optimize their manipulation of objects" (17).

There is the idea that people with CP may have a dulled sense of pain because of the neurological damage they incur. This is yet another falsified assumption. People with CP may have difficulty communicating their feelings of pain, but they definitely have these feelings. In fact, they most likely feel more pain intensity than most people(18).