Learning About Cerebral Palsy

Most of the time, your physician will provide you with most of the information about cerebral palsy that you will need as a parent. There are cases, however, where you will need to turn to other resources to find information in certain circumstances. Learning how to discern between good sources of information and bad sources of information is one of the most important skills that the parent of a child with cerebral palsy has to learn. Without the ability to tell good information from bad, anxiety, a poor level of care for the child and confusion can result.

Medical sources.

Generally speaking, it's best to get scientific information about the group of disorders that constitute cerebral palsy directly from your doctor. There are quite a few parents who will immediately run out and pick up a book about medical disorders, or who will start scouring the Internet for very scientific and technical information about cerebral palsy. This doesn't necessarily do you any good. Even though you may be getting the latest and most advanced information, you probably won't understand it thoroughly unless you actually have medical training yourself.
Fortunately, the media likes to report on stories that have to do with new medical breakthroughs. Keep an eye out for stories about cerebral palsy and see what information they give. Oftentimes, they translate the information in scientific studies into plain English that anybody can understand.

Advocacy organizations.

United Cerebral Palsy and other organizations that advocate for disabled individuals are great sources of information. Not only do they provide accurate and up-to-date information, they also specialize in working with people whose children have these disorders and, therefore, provide information that is easy to understand and that is selected because it is particularly useful to parents, rather than because it is useful to physicians. Keep an eye out for any good advocacy organizations in your area and remember to check them out online, as well. These are great sources of information for networking with other parents who have children with disabilities.
From a legal standpoint, contact a Texas CP lawyer about information regarding lawsuits or other legal actions that may be possibilities if your child is diagnosed with cerebral palsy. A cerebral palsy attorney will be able to let you know how medical negligence plays into the equation when a child is diagnosed with CP. Sometimes, you may be able to get compensation from a jury award or a settlement.