Spring 1999
Volume 1, Issue 1
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Contents: |
What is 'Normal Growth' for a child with Cerebral Palsy ? As many of you reading this know, by March of 1998, six centers throughout the U.S. and Canada, had defined a geographic region around their site with a population of approximately 500,000 and had begun the project. Through a variety of methods we attempted to find every child (ages 2 through 18) with moderate to severe CP. Once we found a child, we called their caregiver, (Mom, Dad, etc.) and asked a few questions to make sure they had CP and were the right age. We then invited them to come to one of the sites to enroll in the study. All participants signed a consent form, and all children got a free T-shirt and a few other goodies! At the study site we carefully measured each child with 12 measurements of length, body mass, head, arm and leg circumference, and fat stores. We examined each child for severity of CP and physical maturation. We also asked a lot of questions! We asked the primary caregiver about their child's general health and medical background, feeding habits, birth history, orthopedic procedures, developmental abilities (walking, crawling, sitting, toileting, arm/hand use, and the ability to communicate).
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