Special education programs are designed to meet the special needs of children with disabilities by supplementary or adapting the regular curriculum. Instruction may take place in regular classrooms or in separate facilities for all or part of the day. Students may also be assigned to special programs in physical education, occupational and physical rehabilitation, music education programs, home instructions or instructions in hospitals and other institutions. These classes and programs recognize that some students can be educated but have mental or physical impairments that make it essential to tailor their education to their special needs. The variety of special education programs offered by each school system reflects the types and severity of the children’s disabilities.

A large majority of children with epilepsy is best served by mainstream classes. Many receive special education services partly or entirely in the regular classroom. Children with frequent and severe seizures who also have orthopaedic and emotional problems, on the other hand, obviously need a specialized program, but many children fall between these two extremes. If your child is not doing well in mainstream classes, it is often helpful for parents to meet with the teachers to learn if the cause of the problems can be identified, through special testing if necessary. In addition, consultation with the child’s doctor may provide insights for e.g., attention deficit disorder may be causing the school problems. Just because special education is recommended does not mean that it is necessary. In most cases the recommendation is valid and should be followed, but if parents disagree with the school’s placement, they can appeal or seek an outside assessment by a psychologist or neuropsychologist. It may also be helpful for parents to observe the child in mainstream or special education classes to better judge the proper balance. Schools are required to deliver services in the ” the least restrictive environment”, meaning the regular classroom for as much of the day as possible. Some children do require many special classes or a special school and emotional issues often arise when your child is assigned to special education programs that remove him from the mainstream.

Services which prove of help are special education teacher support services, special classes in community schools, in specialized schools and nonpublic schools. IDEA requires that schools provide all the additional services needed to help children with disabilities benefit from special education. These related services include transportation, audiology and speech therapy, recreation, social work services, counseling, early identification and assessment of disabling conditions and medical evaluation. For children with epilepsy, related services include education for teachers and school nurses about epilepsy, how to administer medication and first aid for seizures. Ideally, this education will be extended to include classmates because social acceptance may be one of the greatest challenges for children with epilepsy. IDEA states that a child with disabilities must have a written individualized educational plan (IEP) constructed jointly by the parents and school personnel. The IEP is a written report describing the child’s present level of development, the short term and annual goals of the special education program. The date services will start and their expected duration standards for determining whether the goals of educational programs are met and the extent to which your child will be able to participate in the regular educational program.

Dear parents, it’s never too late. Your child with epilepsy can  learn like normal kids and need to be in school with other children.

Don’t doubt planning schooling of your child if he is diagnosed as a case of epilepsy. If your child is doing well in school, there is no reason to worry about the effects of epilepsy on learning. Your child may have an attention deficit with frequent distractibility, may be excessively tired from medication or poor sleep, or may have a specific learning disability which may or may not be related to the epilepsy. Obtaining an educational assessment is the first step after talking with your child’s teachers. You have the right to request an assessment of your child’s problems and needs.

Children with epilepsy usually are of normal intelligence but some do not do well academically. When this happens, it is important to find out the reason. Neurological impairment, frequent seizures or adverse effects of anti-seizure drugs can affect school performance of your child.

For individuals with disabilities, the education act (IDEA) provides legal guarantees for educating children with handicaps. Your child has the right to be taught in a regular classroom environment as much as possible. He has the right to be included in social activities and other activities provided by the school. You have the right to be directly involved in the process of planning your child’s education.

Parents are often extremely reluctant to challenge the school authorities and system. Suggestions from parents about their child’s special needs or their desire to have their child attend regular (mainstream) classes can be met with indignation and ridicule. Knowing the child’s rights under the law and being cautiously assertive can go a long way toward ensuring that the child receives the best possible education.

Regular classes offer the opportunity for children with epilepsy and other disorders to enjoy their education and to be in the social environment of other children who do not have disabilities. By attending mainstream classes, your child with epilepsy will be exposed to a wider array of educational opportunities, will have the chance to develop lasting social relationships with other children with and without disabilities and will be more likely to feel like a regular child instead of a child with a disability. That is not to deny the existence of the epilepsy but it emphasizes that most children with epilepsy have the potential to learn and accomplish all the things that other children can. Some children can be innocently cruel. They may tease your child. Other children may even avoid playing with your child with epilepsy. If teasing or cruelty becomes a problem, it may be worth asking the school to conduct an educational program so that the other children can better understand epilepsy.

A stroke is a condition that leads to rapid development of brain functions due to compromised blood supply to the brain commonly caused by burst or blocked blood vessel. There are two types of stroke known as ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. In ischemic stroke, there is obstruction to blood supply of part of the brain. This results in loss of function of that particular area of the brain. On the other hand, in hemorrhagic stroke, there is rupture of a blood vessel or some anomaly in the blood vessels of the brain. The blood vessel can rupture either inside the brain or inside the skull but outside the brain.

Home care for a stroke patient

No matter whether it is an ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, the patient requires almost life long special care and rehabilitation measures. Almost no medical care unit is capable of taking that required care of the patients after certain period of time. Even patients feel home sick and loose compliance with the passage of time. It is for this purpose that we prefer home care and recovery measures.

Stroke rehabilitation is the process of returning to near possible life activities after having a stroke attack. It involves the mental and physical involvement of the patient in routine chores. It makes the patient learn to compromise with difficulties, avoid associating complications and educate the family members for their role and active participation in enabling the patient in getting back to normal healthy and active life style.

A rehabilitation team is multidisciplinary unit comprising of staff with various skills, work together to bring the patient back to his normal routine to the extent possible. The services required include:

• Physiotherapy
• Occupational therapy
• Speech and language therapy
• Physician trained in rehabilitation measures
• Psychologist
• Pharmacists
• Social workers
• Nursing staff

In addition it involves neuro-cognitive rehabilitation and assistive technology including wheelchair, walkers, canes and crutches may prove useful.

Majority of stroke patients requires physical and occupational therapy in the first place. Physical therapy comprises of re-learning functions as transferring, walking and other gross motor functions.

Occupational therapy involves exercises and training to help relearn everyday activities like eating, drinking, dressing, bathing, cooking, reading, writing and toileting.

Speech and language therapy is effective for all those patients with problems understanding speech or written words, problem forming speech and problems with swallowing. Daily rehabilitation exercises should continue to be part of the stroke patient’s routine.

Effective nursing care is essential for maintaining skin care, feeding, hydration, positioning and monitoring mental status of the patient. Rehabilitation exercises should continue on a daily basis. Complete recovery is unusual but not impossible and most patients will improve to some extent; nutritionally balanced diet and exercise help the brain in self recovery. Without rehabilitation, improvement is not possible. Stroke rehabilitation aims at targeted and organized plan to re-learn functions lost in the shortest period of time possible. It depends on the type of stroke patient is suffering from. After the hospital stay, people usually continue with rehabilitation facilities at least for next 16 days at home and later in an outside facility. Most of the patients improve in this time span, the brain keeps learning new and old tasks throughout life.

Cerebral palsy denotes a group of non-contagious, non-progressive conditions that cause physical disabilities in human development. It’s estimated that about 10,000 infants and babies are diagnosed with cerebral palsy each year in U.S alone. Cerebral refers to a part of brain called cerebrum and palsy denotes a disorder of movement. The cerebrum is primarily affected in cerebral palsy patients but other parts of brain may also be involved. Cerebral palsy is caused by damaged to the motor centers of the developing brain and more than 75% of cases occur during pregnancy.

The symptoms of this disease are very diverse and may include abnormal muscle tone, joint and bone deformities, spasms, involuntary movements, abnormal gait including, scissor walking and toe walking, decreased muscle mass and irregular postures. The affected child may also suffer from secondary disturbances of perception, sensation, cognition, and communication. New symptoms may appear or existing symptoms may change as a child with cerebral palsy gets older.

Unfortunately, no cure is yet available for cerebral palsy patients. Occupational therapy remains the cornerstone of overall treatment and rehabilitation of affected child. Occupational therapy can help your child to function and live more effectively. Most experts suggest that earlier treatment ensures better opportunity for children overcoming developmental disabilities and learn handling news tasks challenging for them. Occupational therapy focuses on helping children with cerebral palsy receive independence in all areas of their daily life. Occupational therapy provides a positive framework for fun activities to improve cerebral palsy patient’s physical, cognitive, and fine motor skills and thus increase their sense of accomplishment and self-esteem.

The major goal of cerebral palsy is to meet children’s needs by working on their compromised motor skills to enable them holding objects including toys and also improve their handwriting skills. The hand-eye coordination improvement is necessary to enable the child to refine play skills like batting a ball, hitting a target, or copying from a blackboard. The affected children also face difficulties in their daily routines such as brushing their teeth, bathing, getting dressed, and feeding themselves. This is where occupational therapy can help your child a lot to enable them to perform their daily routines successfully. Behavior disorders are also very common in children with the cerebral palsy and occupational therapist can help a kid in learning the anger management techniques. If your child hit you or others or act out while angry, the occupational therapist can help your child in channeling the anger feeling in more creative way like participating in physical activities or writing about the feelings.

If your child is having cerebral palsy, it’s always better to consult your child’s healthcare provider to arrange an occupational therapist. Occupational therapy centers are well equipped and have trained staff to evaluate your child. No matter how good care is being provided to your children at home, it can’t be a replacement for an occupational therapy. Occupational therapy will use your child’s strength and enable him/her overcome disabilities related to cerebral palsy. There is no cure available and best you can do for your child is to provide a good quality of life by creating a higher sense of self-confidence and independence.

If you think that occupational therapy is only good for adults, you are wrong. Many people think that kids don’t need occupational therapy after all they do not have occupation. That point is debatably wrong, because children have occupation and that is play and learning. Occupational therapist can evaluate a child’s school performance, skills for play activities, activities of daily living and compare them with what is developmentally appropriate for child. Occupational therapy is good for kids to help them improve many skills, including cognition, sensory processing, fine motor skills and interpersonal and self help skills. Occupational therapy focuses on children to achieve independence, while  boosting self-esteem and sense of accomplishment.

According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), aside from dealing with the usual individual’s physical well-being, occupational therapy professionals addresses the psychological, social, and environmental factors that may hinder an individual’s functioning in different ways. This unique approach makes occupational therapy an important part of health care. Occupational therapist commonly work with kids with following medical problems: birth injuries or birth defects, developmental delays, sensory processing/integrative disorders, traumatic injuries (brain or spinal cord), learning disorders/difficulties, autism, pervasive developmental disorders, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, mental health and/or behavioral problems, sports related and/or orthopedic injuries, post-surgical conditions, burns, spina bifida, traumatic amputations, cancer, severe hand injuries, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and other chronic illnesses

Occupational therapy for children is a process that consists of  screening, assessment, treatment, training and appropriate referral to other health care providers. Occupational therapists also teach the child to learn and relearn developmental function and if needed use assistive device to help remediate functional loss. Occupational therapists work with the family members and/or caregivers in safely and efficiently teaching their child independence as well as constantly communicating with medical, rehabilitation and school team to determine child and family goals’ progress. Occupational therapists extend their services by offering guidance to family members on the safety and efficient ways of caring for their child. They also communicate with the child’s doctors and teachers to make sure that the child is given appropriate treatment. PLAY is the child’s main occupation. Occupational therapists use play as an integral and therapeutic agent in addressing the child’s needs. Play as a therapeutic agent may address child’s cognitive, motor, sensory, social, language, self help skills that may help build and regain self esteem.