Cerebral Palsy is a condition which is caused by damage to the Brain. Most often this happens when a baby is born prematurely and suffers a bleed (haemmorhage) on the brain when just a few days old. Because so many premature babies now survive the first few weeks of life, there are more children who have cerebral palsy.

The effect of Cerebral Palsy on a child is very life the effect of a Stroke or Brain Haemmorhage on an old person. Similar damage can also happen to someone who suffers a bad head injury, such as in a car accident. Part of the brain is damaged, and the person affected may find it difficult to control parts of the body. This isn’t because the body is damaged - it is the part of the brain which controls that part of the body, which is not working correctly.

For children who get Cerebral Palsy at an early age there are obviously differences with older people. Children with CP have to learn to do things for the first time without their brain working properly.

CP can range from very mild to very severe. It is possible for a person to have CP and have hardly any problems. Although CP can cause mental handicap, it is possible to be severely handicapped physically and yet to have high intelligence. If this physical handicap includes speech then it can be very frustrating.

If CP affects both arms or both legs, it is called paraplegia. If it affects one side of the body, it is called hemiplegia. If it affects all four limbs, then it is known as quadraplegia.

If a person with CP does not have regular exercise to the parts affected by their condition the tendons become tight: not elastic, but spastic. Limbs and hands can get into fixed positions. Before Cerebral Palsy was well understood, this effect on the body gave the name spastic. However, if a person with CP has regular exercise and physiotherapy, they need never get a severe spastic condition.

No. Damage to the Brain is permanent. However, just as people with strokes can often make a recovery, even if not back to exactly the same condition as before, so many children with cerebral palsy can learn - through much hard work - to do many things and live a normal life.

For many years, people thought all they could do was help amuse children with CP and try to make life not too miserable. In Hungary however, an Institute was formed, known as the Peto Institute after the Doctor who founded it. This institute claimed that children with CP could learn to speak and walk and do things for themselves. The treatment involves intensive exercise on wooden benches (plinths). The method used is called conductive education. The children find the exercises difficult and are often upset. Even so, the results have been remarkable. Several parents have raised thousands of pounds to send their children to the Institute. An institute based on the Peto method has been founded in Birmingham, and many of its ideas are now used in this country.

The video you will see shows a small pre-school group at the Ormerod School in Oxford.