Posts Tagged baby birth defects
Device Helps Children with CP Find their Voice
Posted by Sean at Sokolove Law in Therapy and Treatments on June 17, 2009
A new device has been developed that helps cerebral palsy patients struggling to speak find their voice. The device is called VitalStim and it is a small electrical current that contracts facial muscles in order to strengthen them. Patients use the VitalStim device three times a week for about an hour, in combination with speech therapy. “The more we can eat and swallow and practice that movement while we’ve got those electrodes on, the better results you’ll see,” Polly Bohannon, M.S., C.C.C.-S.L.P., a speech language pathologist at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare in Tallahassee, Florida.
For Jude Countryman and his family, they have already noticed the benefits of VitalStim. Jude has cerebral palsy and during his birth his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, damaging nerves that control his mouth and tongue. His parents couldn’t be happier with Jude’s progress and even a little progress means everything. “I realized when he was talking at one point that something was different about his face, and I couldn’t quite figure out what it was at first, but then I realized his upper lip was moving when he was talking,” said Jude’s mother, Erin Belieu. “I was just like, ‘Wow!’” VitalStim is FDA-approved to use on kids and infants.
LikeVirtual Reality Device Improves Walking for People with CP
Posted by Sean at Sokolove Law in Current Events, Research on May 19, 2009
A new virtual reality device may prove to be an effective therapy for people with cerebral palsy. The virtual reality device, named the GaitAid Virtual Walker, can help people with cerebral palsy to improve their balance and potentially walk normally again. A virtual reality is a realistic simulation of an environment, including three-dimensional graphics, by a computer system using interactive software and hardware.
The GaitAid Virtual Walker was developed by MIT-educated Computer Science Professor Yoram Baram, PhD. The device consists of a cell-phone-size, lightweight control unit and a set of comfortable high-tech goggles that provide sensory feedback of visual images and sounds in response to the patient’s movements. The device is worn for practice-walking just 20-30 minutes a day. The GaitAid improves walking (sometimes from the first step) and “rewires” the wearer’s brain to follow a healthier walking pattern–an effect that often continues even when it isn’t being worn.
Clinical studies involving children and young adults with cerebal palsy have shown that 80% of patients experienced an improvement in stride length and walking speed after only ten minutes of walking with the GaitAid. Moreover, participants reported an improved feeling of balance and confidence in walking.
UNH Therapeutic Horse Riding Program to Remain Open While Under Review
Posted by Josh at Sokolove Law in Therapy and Treatments on May 6, 2009
At The University of New Hampshire a horse riding program that is designed to help children with disabilities like cerebral palsy, autism, and down syndrome is in danger of being shut down.
The program has been in operation for 20 years and has been self funded through fees and fundraising, but the decision recently came down to stop the program. No specific reason has been given for the stoppage of the program, but the university has said it has to do with the reshaping of the equine science program.
Luckily the program will continue to operate while it is under review and a suggestion will be made by June 1st on whether or not to continue on with the program or eradicate it from the UNH community.
A number of parents who’s children are involved in the program are devastated that such a great program which impacts children’s lives in such a positive light might be done away with.
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The Sokolove Law nurse desk is led by Kathy McGinn, R.N., B.S.N., L.N.C.C., a 25-year nursing veteran who has worked in the field of legal nurse consulting since 1990. From early on in her career, Kathy was passionate about making patient advocacy the core of her nursing practice. She has been instrumental in cultivating a strong and knowledgeable team of nurses, each with a genuine desire to make a difference in the lives of others.