Customer Reviews

Cerebral Palsy: A Complete Guide for Caregiving (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wow! After almost five years of parenting a child with CP, I've discovered a book that answers all my questions! This book goes into detail on everything you want to know--the medical aspects of high tone/low tone, when various surgeries are necessary and what results you can expect, the different types of AFO's and equipment, lots of other stuff. If you have a child with CP, you'll want this book. I only wish they had come out with a second edition by now. (Sept. 2003) Also includes an extensive encyclopedia. If you've been craving detailed information and answers, this is what you've been looking for.

Dr. Miller and Dr. Bachrach have written a wonderful book. Dr. Miller was actually my daugther's ortho doctor until he took time off to help write this book. Dr. Bachrach is currently treating my daughter. I love the fact that they have made this book easy to understand and that it answers questions that you might never think to ask while you are in the clinic with your child.

Co-authored by medical doctors Freeman Miller and Steven Bachrach, Cerebral Palsy: A Complete Guide For Caregiving, 2nd Edition is a `must' for any family struggling with CP care: it provides parents with answers ranging form understanding areas of involvement and basic care issues to understanding medical terminology commonly used. An A-Z encyclopedia helps define these terms, diagnoses and procedures, while discussions delve into regulations, assessments of condition, and the latest research. The wealth of details are organized logically and parents will find it easy to navigate, making it an item of choice above others.

This review gives a brief overview on caring for a child with diplegia from birth to 18 years of age. Overall I think this is a great book. The question and answer style makes it very easy for anyone to understand. It goes into a lot of detail about cerebral palsy and how to care for a child with it.

Parts of the book:

Part I Cerebral Palsy Handbook

This section gives an overview of the basics of cerebral palsy including the definition of it. It also talks about the medical problems associated with cerebral palsy and the development problems a child with cerebral palsy may have growing up. It then goes into detail about hemiplegia, diplegia, and quadriplegia and the differences between them. It also says how to care for a child with each of these diseases at the different stages of his/her life. The book then goes into detail about the different aspects of your child's life, including healthcare, education, and legal and how the parent should approach each one.

Part II Caregiving Techniques

This section focuses on caregiving and specific techniques. It includes seating, wheelchair use, braces, casts, shoes, feeding, taking medicine, and many other techniques that may come up while caring for a child with cerebral palsy.

Style and Structure

The book is set up as a question and answer style. It breaks up basic caregiving by the child's age: birth to one year, one to three, four to six, seven to twelve, and thirteen to eighteen. Each age group answers different questions that usually come up during a child's development at that age period.

Outline of Specific Parts of the Books

Diplegia

This section gives a good introduction of diplegia, saying what it is, what the symptoms look like in a child, and the degrees of severity. The majority of children with diplegia usually attends regular schools and become independent functioning adults.

Birth to One Year

"This first year sees the development of many milestones, such as head control, reaching out for a toy, sitting, starting to vocalize sounds, and finger feeding." This is a good section on whether it is possible to diagnose diplegia this early. Most parents want their children to excel very fast buy there is a wide range of development time for premature babies so it's very hard to diagnose cerebral palsy this early. The most common symptom of a child with diplegia is stiff lower extremities. This should be able to be seen by the six month mark which means he or she does not have severe diplegia.

Age One to Three

"This is the age at which the characteristics of diplegia become more noticeable, mainly because, unlike other children at this age, the child with diplegia is not walking." This is a good section about indications that your child may have diplegia. It stresses the importance of a specialized school environment so the child can participate in physical therapy and learn social skills. It also stresses that a parent should not force the child to sit, crawl, or walk a certain way. Let the child do what's comfortable for them and allow the therapist to correct this problem.

Age Four to Six

"This is the age range at which the child with diplegia makes the most significant physical improvement in motor function." This is a great section about walking and what to do if a child is not walking yet. During this time period the child makes major improvements in motor function. He/She should be in a regular school and focus on cognitive issues not therapy. A child using a walking aid for mobility to move around with the other children is not a bad thing. If a child is not walking yet, then this is usually caused by a problem in balance, muscle coordination, spasticity, or leg alignment. Each of these reasons should be looked into closely so the problem can be addressed and fixed.

Age Seven to Twelve

"By the time a child reaches this age, the rate of physical improvement has leveled off in areas such as balance and coordination, and it's a good idea to refocus the child's attention away from additional physical improvement and toward intellectual learning." This is a good section on when a child should stop physical therapy and do more outdoor or social exercises such as sports and adaptive P.E. usually by age 8-10 a child has reached maximum walking ability. This will usually decrease a little when a child hits puberty and gains height and weight because walking becomes harder during this changing period. Any significant problems in walking should be addressed with surgery at this stage.

Age 13 - 18

"During this time period of a child's development, a major issue is separating from the family." This is a great section for parents on how to cope with their child growing up and give them more freedom. Parents should let their child have some freedom and be independent. This is a good section on how to let your child make decisions on his/her own and learn from them. It also says how to compromise and let the child make smaller decisions so they feel important. Parents should also understand that their child may regress some from increase in height and weight.

Summary of Opinions

Overall this is an excellent book on caregiving for a child with cerebral palsy. It is broken up well into different age categories and addresses major issues such as walking (using braces, crutches, wheelchair), surgery, schooling, and therapy. It also talks about healthcare and how often checkups should occur. It goes into good detail about the problems your child will face and how to handle them.

After reading this book, I would feel comfortable taking care of a child with cerebral palsy. It helps you not to panic because nothing you see your child struggle with will be out of the ordinary. It also does a good job of breaking up the different forms of plegia (hemiplegia, diplegia, and quadriplegia) and the differences between them.

Recommendation

I would recommend this book to any parent raising a child with cerebral palsy. It is very easy to read and does a nice job breaking up the major aspects of a child's life: school, healthcare, walking, and therapy. The question and answer format allows the reader to look at the common questions about raising a child with cerebral palsy and can skip over areas if they wish.

I have never reviewed anything on Amazon, although I've purchased hundreds of items through them, but I just HAD to review this book. It is truly wonderful! It's so informative and well written. It explains medical terms so that it is easily understood by the average person. As a parent of a child with CP, this book answered all of my questions. I HIGHLY recommend!

I actually own the soft cover version of this book. My son has Cerebral Palsy and this book was initially recommended to us by one of his specialists not long after he was diagnosed. I absolutely LOVE this book! We purchased a Kindle thru Amazon for our son for Christmas this year. He loves books and loves being read to. So it was the perfect gift. I added this book to the Kindle library so that his one-on-one nurse aide can reference it for any questions or curiosities she has. It has a little bit of everything in it. From what to expect with the various severities, ages & developments as your child grows from birth - grief. It covers a little bit of marital & sibling issues that may arise as well. There's a section at the end with lists of medical terms & definitions. Also tells you what pages each of these items is discussed on. Then there's a reference section in the back of agencies, books, etc with addresses & phone numbers & then in more detail by state for those agencies etc that are specific in each state. I recommend this book to every parent with a child that has Cerebral Palsy. Even if you're not very medically knowledgeable this is a good buy. It'll help you become more educated on issues that you already are or will be dealing with soon.

I really am glad to have this book. A friend had lent it to me and I wanted to get a copy of my own. It is one of those books that you will want to reffer to again and again as your child grows. It has the types of cp; hemiplegic, diplegic, and quadraplegic. I especialy recomend this book to people who have kids who have hemiplegia, because it is hard to find cp books that have specific info on hemiplegia. It is well organized and easy to find info in. The sections have an introduction so you know you are looking the right place. For example, in the intro to the diplegia section it says soemthing like, if your child cannot make transitions on their own (ex.from bed to wheel chair) then you will find more relevent information in the quadraplegia section. I definaty recomend it if you are new to your childs diagnosis of cp. It also has info on AFOs, surgery and hospitaliations, feeding tubes, hearing and vision problems, intelectual disabilities, etc. Some of the language is outdated though, for example I belive it uses the term mentaly retarded.

I gave this review 3 stars, because this book is really not what it claims to me - a guide for caregiving. What it *is* is an excellent reference that describes cerebral palsy fully, the medical implications, and treatment options. I does not go into detail about caregiving - things I would be looking for with this title are safe bathing techniques, how to administer meds, safe feeding techniques, transporting, etc. I think it's a decent reference - although you can probably find most of this info on the web these days. But if you are looking for specific caregiving information, this is not it.

I have an 18 month old with CP and boy do I love this book! It has given me the most concrete information about my son's condition to date. If you have personal experience with CP you know that there is no set timeline for progress - each child is unique in his or her CP experience. This book enabled me to envision a timeline for my son's progress for the first time. It has given me hope and is an excellent resource.

This book is organized in a way that gave me the information I wanted to know first, right at the beginning. I didn't have to search around for it. The authors have great sensitivity to and understanding of families dealing with CP. They manage to be empathic in their writing while delivering technical information. The book concludes with an incredibly useful "Cerebral Palsy Encyclopedia" which is a must have for any one with a child who has CP.

If you have a child with CP or work with families with children with CP, get this book!

I am very interested in children with cerebral palsy in Korea.
Because of easiler explaination basic concepts, y book I am very impressed this book.
This book is helped in teaching introduced children with cerebral palsy in Korea.