CP newbie!

mrsandman
mrsandman Online Community Member Posts: 3 Listener
edited January 2022 in Cerebral Palsy Network
Hi everyone. 
Probably an odd title sorry! 
I am in the process of adopting a baby boy who has a strong possibility of CP disgnosis. He is less than 1 year old. 
I am a single man, so looking for advice, or something to help me help him as we go through this journey. I have fab social workers, but nothing beats real time experiences for advice. 
Apologies for being naive in advance. Thank you all. 

Comments

  • Alex_Alumni
    Alex_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,538 Championing
    Hello @mrsandman and welcome to the community, it's lovely to have you join us :)

    @Richard_Scope is our resident CP expert, and you'll also find plenty of discussions you can join in our CP category, as well as our Children, Parents and families category, so feel free to ask any questions there.

    Don't apologise at all, it's great to hear from you! If you need a hand navigating the forum, or are unsure about anything else, please just ask.

    Alex
  • Richard_Scope
    Richard_Scope Posts: 3,763 Cerebral Palsy Network
    Hi @mrsandman
    Good to meet you! It's not a naive question at all. Cerebral Palsy is a neurological condition that can affect movement, posture and other aspects, like speech, vision and swallowing. The key thing to remember is how CP presents is individual to that person. I have CP but how it affects me will be different to somebody else living with the impairment.

    Is there anything specific that you would like us to discuss? As you can imagine there's a lot I could go in to
  • mrsandman
    mrsandman Online Community Member Posts: 3 Listener
    Hi,
    Thank you for the nice welcome everyone. 
    I am in the final stages of my adoption and have been told it is highly likely that he will have CP due to certain factors I won't go into now. 
    Can anyone, in a nutshell if this possible, say what key things I should be looking at first. I assume physiotherapy is right up there as he has weakness and stiffness in his legs, but is there somethings I should be looking at for our home life? 
    It is a hard question as all still vague I appreciate, and with many different levels of CP! But thank you!  
    I want to make sure I do all I can. 
  • Poppy_
    Poppy_ Online Community Member Posts: 192 Empowering
    edited January 2022
    Hi, how are you? 
    I would look into occupational therapy for any adaptations/ daily living needs he may require. I have spastic diplegia CP, involving my legs, which sounds like what you have mentioned above. Personally, what has helped me the most is water based activities, like swimming, as the buoyancy helped strengthen my legs, and horse riding, as it helped my gait. Swimming may be something that could be started later on but there are baby based swimming activities. There is a specialist disabled riding organisation, that is nation wide, called the RDA or riding for the disabled association. They may have a centre close to your area. This may be something to look into for the future.Activities, like swimming and horse riding, help in many ways to do with CP but also things like confidence. 

    I hope this helps
  • Alex_Alumni
    Alex_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,538 Championing
    Hi @mrsandman I just wanted to check in and ask how things are going?

    Are you much further along in the adoption process? :)
  • mrsandman
    mrsandman Online Community Member Posts: 3 Listener
    Hi, 
    Thanks for checking in :)
    I have met the little fella now, so all going brilliantly. He won't be living with me until around March, so prepping the house! 
    Still don't have a physio assigned, so not sure what particular attention he needs just yet, but time will tell. 
  • Alex_Alumni
    Alex_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,538 Championing
    @mrsandman that's fab news, I'm sure you're so excited for it!

    Do keep us updated, and we'll do our best to help with any future queries you might have :)

    Alex
  • SaraC_Scope
    SaraC_Scope CP Network, Scope Posts: 263 Empowering
    edited April 2022
    Hi @mrsandman I'm glad to hear your adoption is going well.  I'm an adoptive Mum to a now 18 year old son, so can appreciate the journey you are experiencing.
    As others have said, Scope have a number of family services available and one of those is the Navigate Service  They provide practical and emotional support to parents and carers of children who have received a recent diagnosis of a disability or condition, or are on the pathway to a diagnosis.  The client will be allocated an adviser and have up to six sessions over 9 weeks to talk about how they are feeling and help with practical issues. All the advisers have lived experience of disability.

    Best Wishes

    Sara

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