Immunology: Dystonic Athetoid Cerebral Palsy - Essay Example

When well and alert, he is able to communicate his needs, wants, and feelings through vocalization, facial expressions, and body movements. He will show his likes and dislikes by reaching out, laughing and smiling, or discarding objects, crying, becoming stiff, agitated, and hot. He cries to indicate discomfort or hunger.

Learning skills
Along with the development of his logical thinking, his ability to anticipate events is also developing. A recent assessment has shown that he is functioning securely at level P2(i) of the level underpinning the National Curriculum.

Approaches to learning
James' daily life must follow a regular routine in order to allow him to anticipate the next event in his day. He is touch-dependent in the sense that holding an object allows him to gain and understand information about his environment. Although sometimes shy, James warms up to adults who show him support in his learning endeavors. He eagerly participates in activities for at least 20 minutes when surrounded by familiar adults. This sense of familiarity prevents him from participating in large and noisy groups thus limiting his self-occupation skills.

Persona, social and emotional
James is a social person who enjoys the company of other people. He is always aware of familiar adults and enjoys one on one interaction activities with them. James has been observed to turn his head towards familiar adults who talk to him and respond positively to them by gesturing and smiling, sometimes he also uses vocalizing techniques in order to communicate with them.

Physical, sensory, and medical
Due to James' limited movement control caused by his cerebral palsy, he is unable to sit, stand, or walk without support. Therefore he constantly needs to be assisted in all his activities. These activities include changing his clothes and maintaining his body position. He is totally dependent on those around him for mobility as he is wheelchair-bound and must use leg gaiters when walking. James' upper body suffered most of the effects of cerebral palsy which is why he finds it hard to reach for items independently. He also experiences involuntary muscle movements in both upper and lower limbs.

In order to complete a task, James requires hand-over-hand support and the assistance of some physical prompts in order to make him do the task or keep him stimulated enough to finish a task such as pressing a switch.

James is able to roll onto his side without any assistance but is unable to complete a total rollover. He must be constantly watched due to the involuntary muscle movements that sometimes compel him to roll onto his stomach. Once in this position, James is unable to move in order to reverse the position.

Amazingly, James has managed to respond to sound despite being diagnosed with bilateral sensory neural hearing loss. Professionally speaking though, there is some doubt as to how much sound he actually manages to hear. His eyes show no visual distinction capability despite being anatomically perfect due to his brain damage.

Unable to feed himself, James faces certain difficulties when swallowing. This problem requires his caretaker to carefully feed him a meal by puréeing his food and assisting him when drinking in order to prevent choking. A task made less trying by the fact that James is always cooperative during the times when familiar adults need to handle him for moving, changing, or feeding.