hi i'm wonderinf if anyone can give me some advice, my son who is 4 +1/2 has mild cp. As he is getting older his behaviour has gotten quite bad wont listen, stubbon, will carry on doing things that he knows is wrong and gets told off for.its like he can't help it sometimes. he is inetlligent and knows the difference form right and wrong. is there anyone who deals with a similer condition that can help me with advice
thank you

I am not a parent, but I teach sunday school to a room full of four year olds and a lot of them do the same thing. Plus, I have a brother who never feared consequence. We would tell him not to do something and he'd look right at us and do it anyways. He eventually out grew it. I think that age is when kids really start to test boundaries and such. I would not be quick to connect the behavior to his CP. Give him the same consequences as you would a regular kid and be consistent.

My son has mild cp and is now 28. If your child does not have a cognitive delay, then he should be treated the same way as any other 4 year old with the exception of expectations to do with his disability, which would be physical issues. Don't feel sorry for him and don't let him get away with things you wouldn't let another child get away with. If you do, you are not doing him any favors because others will not be as nice to him as his family will be and he won't understand why other people don't like him.

Lisa

It sounds like usual 4 year old behavious my son does the exact same thing and does not have cp.

If he's really out of control, and you really want to teach him to behave, that is wonderful. He will find life easier because people will like him. It can't be all done at once, but little by little. The most important thing is consistency. I would pick the one thing you want to change the most, and decide what the consequences will be if he disobeys in that again. Then tell him he has a new rule, what it is for, and determine within yourself not to back down, even if he is angry, or you are tired. Keep it up, don't back down, and he will begin to respect you, and obey in that thing. If you ever let it go, he'll test you again. Children all do that. From that first thing, you can change the rest, one by one. You will be amazed to see him improve! Good luck to you!

New to this thread!! Strongly suggest you get an MRI on his brain. Even though they say CP does not progress, could have other issues you are not aware of. My son behavior got worse. His doctor just kept increasing his medication. Then when it was too late we found out he had a bleed in his brain sometime back that we did not know about. If an MRI had been done on a regular basis, things might have been different.
Good luck!!!!

Hi,
I have a 4 1/2 yo myself and yes there are days when he gets the better of my normally tolerant nature. I look at it as a normal 4 yo trying to assert himself and treat him like a normal 4 yo who is misbehaving. I have yet to read anything on cp that affects behaviour directly. I do find that he seems really cranky when he is tired...it doesn't take much to tire him out and if he starts acting up then I try to shift his focus. Eg if he starts acting up at 4pm which is a common time for most kids I offer him a bath to relax him.
Good luck, it is trying at the best of times!!

Wow, that's pretty severe. I have a son with cp and he has had increasingly bad behavior. Most of it is patience related. He has none and when he decides he wants to eat etc, he wants it now or cries and throws a fit. How do I go about this? We try to make him sit in the corner for a short amt. of time and sometimes that works. Does anyone else have behavior issues that can help. Would a MRI, regularly or yearly be a good idea?

I have twins that will be 4 years old soon. Peter has CP Diplegia, and he sure can have bad days. I put him in time-out, and he hates it. He cries even more. I sit with him and talk to him, and it takes alot of patience. Thomas the other twin gets his time out too, and there are some days that one or the other is having a bad day(seems like they alternate everyday), so I have to deal with it everyday. It is very hard, and somedays I just want to cry. I never had that problem with my older kids, and they are three years apart. They never got time-outs. It is so different for me.

A MRI is not necessary every year. There will not be a change in a child's brain when CP is involved. I always thought that with lots of P.T. and O.T. and Speech therapy the brain will rewire itself, and the child will show improvement through the therapy's meaning you will be able to see it in a MRI, but that is not the case. The damage to the brain has been done, but through therapies, the body is learning (through lots of therapies) how to adapt, but it will not show it in the brain. That is why therapies are a lifetime committment. What I see for my Peter in the future is that he will always have to be very active, and exercise. He will have to do swimming, walking, perhaps continue horsetherapy, and stretching, stretching, stretching. and more stretching...It is important for anyone to exercise but a person with CP will always have to do it that much more. Anything is possible.

My boys will both be going to a developemental preschool in the fall and I couldn't be any happier. They will both benenfit so much from this. Starting out young is the key in any childs life. It is what you do with it when you are older.