go hand in hand? My 38 year old sister has CP and has been in a mental institution her whole life. I assumed that Mental Retardation was a component of CP. After reading the posts of some of the CP posters, I guess I assumed wrong.

Is it not common to have mental challenges if you also have CP? Does having CP increase the likelihood of mental challenges? Thanks for your reply.

I personally think you need to do some research. My daughter is 6 years old and has CP and she is very smart. She is in the first grade at school and does very well. She has always been ahead of her age level when it somes to academic work. I know a lot of people that think CP and mental retardation go together and it just burns me up inside. Yes my daughter is physically handicapped but she is not mentally handicapped. She gets around very well and can talk well and can run and play with the rest of the kids at school. Sorry if I sound mean but it just bothers me when people consider people with cp as also being mentally challenged, not all of them are.

no, i have CP pretty badly, and i am not Mentally Retarded. i always attended mainstream classes in my local public school, except for gym, was Valedictorian of my classs, and attended college where i took honors classes and was on the Deans list.

I thought CP was due to an oxygen deficiency at birth which caused the MR. I guess not.

Congratulations on your accomplishments.

thanks http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif
it CAN happen that way, but not necessarily... when it does thats whats known as multiple disabilities.

I believe there are many things that can cause CP. My daughter's heartrate dropped during birth and was lacking oxygen and was born blue. At around 9 months of age we noticed that she wasn't using her left side like she should be and after many specialists we found out she had CP. She also has a cyst about 1cm round on the top right side of her brain, which should never cause her any problems. I am sure there are lots of people out there with CP that do not have MR.

When you say mental institution I assume you mean a state hospital. I just wanted to let you know, you may already know, that there are other options beside institutionalization. There are independant living centers (also called group homes) and most areas offer in-home services and supportive living. your sister might be eligable for these other services.

Originally posted by Bettie1970:
go hand in hand? My 38 year old sister has CP and has been in a mental institution her whole life. I assumed that Mental Retardation was a component of CP. After reading the posts of some of the CP posters, I guess I assumed wrong.

Is it not common to have mental challenges if you also have CP? Does having CP increase the likelihood of mental challenges? Thanks for your reply.

my mother has cp, has had it her whole life, she's not retarded, she's college educated and teaches special ed. she does have nevousness and sometimes stutters and whatnot but that's far from being mentally disabled....considering the hand she was delt in life i would say she's double tough mentaly, more than i can say for myself and most people i know.

Hello! I am a high school art teacher and I have a student with CP. She can appear retarded but she is not! She is very bright!!! She communicates by typing on what is called a litewriter. She types on the keyboard and it reads the sentences allowed. She needs some help but she types everything on her own. I was a little skeptical of it at first but I am 100% believer. I know that facilitated communication is a very controversial topic but it is worth a try. If your sister could communicate with others I think you would learn she is a normal person trapped in a body that doesn't allow her to function like us. It is worth a try don't you think? Douglas Biklen is an author of several books regarding facilitated communication. Do some research and find her good support. You'll benefit from this greatly! I promise. J

[This message has been edited by arteacher (edited 06-05-2001).]

It is not uncommon for people to think that way. My son's pediatrician said it this way - if you are going to have any brain "condition", CP is the one. You see where you are, and it will not progress. It is a condition, not a disease.
My son has mild CP. He had a stroke at birth, and the "brain trauma" resulted in his CP. He is a straight A student, plays piano, soccer, rides a bike, etc. Yet, he has CP and a shunt.
I think people (who have not educated themselves) think that CP is a form of mental retardation is because they see delays in motor skill development, or might hear speech impediment, and base assumptions on that. Don't beat yourself up over the misconceptions, but I think you should research it further.

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Dave

I majored in special education-mental retardation in college and have done some reading on cp. What I understand is that 75% of people with cp also have mental retardation. Although this statistic may be too high. Think of the biography My Left Foot. The family of the person w/ cp thought he was retarded because he didn't speak (I think). His family realized that he was not retarded because he drew, painted and spelled words with his left foot. In other words, people may be classified as retarded because they don't have a means to communicate and move. People can have mental retardation but not cerebral palsy. People can have cerebral palsy and not mental retardation.
I have mild cerebral palsy. It bothers me that people figure that I am physically incapable of lots of stuff. I can do most things that most people do. So many people have told me that I couldn't do a good job teaching. I usually have few, if any, problems teaching. There are always way to adapt things. My mom gets really mad when people think I am retarded. I don't like it when I get called retarded. I try to deal with it by having a sense of humor. (I hated being called retarded as a child.)

Blackbelt