The Importance of CP Patients and Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy in cerebral palsy is an integral part of the rehabilitation team. It aims to enable individuals to carry out their activities and roles independently and to improve their quality of life. Occupational therapists use meaningful and purposeful activities to support children diagnosed with cerebral palsy in areas of activity performance such as daily living activities (feeding, bathing, brushing teeth, dressing), sleep, play, and school.

It examines the problems related to the person (cognitive, sensory and motor disorders), environment (physical, cultural and social) and activity that affect children's activity participation through observational and objective evaluations, and then creates a personalized intervention program. By actively involving the family in this process, it aims to maximize the child's skills and ensure the transfer of the acquired skills to other environments (home, school, etc.).

Children with cerebral palsy have problems in activities such as grasping and using objects due to spasticity in their upper extremities, weakness, limited supination and elbow extension, and coordination disorder. These problems not only affect children's independence in their basic daily activities, but also negatively affect areas such as exploration, mobility and learning within the game. The hand is a functional device that is of great importance in most of our daily life activities.

In occupational therapy studies in cerebral palsy, the development of gross motor skills (sitting, crawling, walking), fine motor skills (gripping a bottle, toy, spoon, pencil, fastening buttons, tying shoes, etc.), oral motor skills (eating, drinking water). Examples include teaching wheelchair use and transfers. The development of these skills requires cognitive skills as well as motor performance. For this reason, skills such as attention, orientation, memory, planning, sequencing, problem solving, executive functions, hand-eye coordination and visual perception can also be supported with cognitive rehabilitation studies.

In addition to cognitive and motor skill areas, occupational therapists in cerebral palsy also support sensory development through sensory integration therapy. Sensory integration is the process of conveying various sensory information received from the environment and the body through the nervous system, interpreting it by the brain and creating an appropriate response. Children with cerebral palsy who have sensory integration problems may experience sensory difficulties such as being disturbed by position changes, not being able to tolerate certain positions, and being uncomfortable with touch, some fabrics, sounds, and light. This affects basic activity areas such as nutrition, sleep and play. Occupational therapists not only provide sensory modulation through sensory integration; It supports neural plasticity (the brain's variability and adaptability), improves functionality and also contributes to the formation of emotional and behavioral responses appropriate to the situation.