ParentWise

Kate Strohm, founder of Siblings Australia, talks about the positive impact siblings can have on the wellbeing of a child with disability.

Angela Dew discusses the transition of care from ageing parents to siblings, for people with cerebral palsy 40 years and over.

For some children and adults with cerebral palsy, controlling saliva can be very difficult. In this podcast, speech pathologist, Leigha Dark, discusses why saliva is important for digestion and oral health and explores some of the treatments available to assist with managing problems with saliva in children with cerebral palsy.

The act of making sounds or speech is something most of us take for granted, yet 60% of children with cerebral palsy have some type of speech or articulation difficulty. In this podcast, speech pathologist, Leigha Dark, explores some of the problems that can arise with articulation for children with cerebral palsy and suggests some strategies for parents to help their child improve the way that they speak and produce sounds

Learning to communicate with others, and ensuring that you’re understood, is a vital part of any child’s early development. In this podcast, speech pathologist, Alana Bain, explains how children develop language, what’s different about that process for children with cerebral palsy and what parents can do to help their children develop language skills effectively.

Literacy, or the ability to read and write letters and text, is an important set of skills for your child to develop. However some research suggests that children with cerebral palsy - who may be non-verbal or who use augmentative or alternative communication (also known as AAC) - may experience delays with their literacy development. Can parents predict that their child will have difficulty with literacy? What can parents do to support their child to read and write if they do struggle with literacy? Speech Pathologist, Alana Bain, discusses these and other question in this podcast about literacy and children with cerebral palsy.

Marelle Thornton AM is President of The Spastic Centre of New South Wales and the mother of an adult daughter with cerebral palsy. In this podcast, Marelle shares a thinking tool called ‘The Six Hats,’ which she has found invaluable for dealing with life as a parent of a child with a disability. Devised by Dr Edward de Bono, and discussed at length in his book, ‘Six Thinking Hats’, the tool gives us six different ways to think about thinking and, in this case, to think about disability.

Inclusion is about taking part in social, cultural, educational and sporting activities, regardless of our background or ability. As recreation therapist Jessica Tarr explains in this podcast, for children with a disability inclusion is about much more than just building ramps for access.

Drawing on her experience of helping kids with a disability to achieve their recreational and sporting goals, Jessica reflects on the most effective ways to overcome barriers to inclusion.

0:00:58 What is inclusion?

0:02:59 Truly inclusive environments

0:06:30 Getting started with inclusion

In this podcast, occupational therapist and seating consultant, Natalie Carden, explains the benefits of powered mobility for children with a disability and gives you some hints about how to investigate powered mobility options for your child.

0:00:39 What is powered mobility?

0:02:35 Powered mobility benefits

0:06:24 Accessing powered mobility

0:10:07 Starting out with powered mobility

In this podcast, Melissa Perrett who is the Health Manager of a large disability service, explains the various medical conditions that can be associated with cerebral palsy and some of the strategies that can be used to manage them.

0:00:36 Epilepsy, reflux

0:04:12 Chest infections, advice from a dietician, swallowing problems

0:05:53 Osteoporosis, pressure sores

0:08:08 Constipation, continence problems, spinal cord compression

0:11:34 Vision and hearing problems, chronic pain