This document discusses physical disabilities and health problems that may impact children's development and participation in early childhood programs. It describes several common physical disabilities like cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy that can cause limited mobility or motor control issues. It also outlines various health conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and seizures that early childhood programs may need to accommodate. The document emphasizes the importance of an interdisciplinary team approach using specialized equipment and adapted materials to meet the needs of children with disabilities or health issues.

1. Physical Disabilities and
Health Problems
Chapter 7 – The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in Early Childhood
Education; Allen, K. Eileen and Cowdery, Glynnis E.; 2015

2. Health and Physical Activity
• Important for overall optimal development
• Children with physical and/or health impairments cannot explore the
environment in ways that maximize their development
• Physical impairments impact skeleton, joints, and muscles
• Health impairments may be chronic or acute
• Overlapping condition are common

3. Physical Disabilities
• Physical disabilities – “conditions that interfere with the normal
functioning of bones, joints, and muscles” (Allen & Cowdery, 2015)
• Cerebral Palsy – the most common physical disability ; caused by
neurological problems that impact muscle control.
• Problems are not progressive
• CP may range from mild to severe physical impairments

4. Types of Muscle Problems for Classifying CP
• Spasticity – hypertonic muscle tone; joints do not have the range of
motion they should have
• Hypotonicity – “floppy” baby syndrome; child has too little muscle
tone; impacts head and posture control.
• Athetosis – children with this tend to keep primitive reflexes and have
problems with voluntary muscle control
• Ataxia – a lack of motor coordination that affects balance and makes
fine motor coordination difficult
• Other classifications according to affected body parts - Diplegia,
hemiplegia, paraplegia, quadriplegia

5. Challenges for Children with CP
• Lack of motor control and failure to meet physical development
milestones
• Lack of motor control may impact eating and ability to speak, even if
there is no intellectual impairment
• Physical and occupational therapists are important team members for
the interdisciplinary team for a child with CP

6. Spinal Cord Injuries
• Unlike with CP, the brain is not affected. The muscles below the
spinal cord injury no longer receive signals from the brain.
• Children with spinal cord injuries do no have any sensation below the
injury
• Spina bifida occurs in the first 30 days of fetal development and is a
neural tube defect.
• Children with spina bifida may be hydrocephalic and may have
incontinence.

7. Muscular Dystrophy
• Characterized by a progressive weakening of the muscles
• Duchenne’s disease is the most common and affects only boys.
• Children with MD are encouraged to use muscles as much as possible
• Other impairments
• Hip dysplasia – occurs in girls more often than in boys; requires treatment for
child to learn to walk properly
• Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis – characterized by inflammation of the joints
and surrounding tissue; symptoms may disappear as child gets older.

8. Program Implications
• Interdisciplinary team requires a variety of professionals
• Both commercial and creative adaptive equipment may be needed
• Environment will need to be adapted to support all children in the
program, including the child with physical disabilities
• Prospective interdisciplinary team members:
• Physical and occupational therapists
• Speech and language therapist
• Psychologist or other behavior specialist
• Consistent implementation of therapy goals important
• All therapeutic activity must be supervised by appropriate specialist

9. Adaptive Equipment
• Mobility devices
• Helmets, rails, etc. may be needed for safety
• Braces, walkers, wheelchairs, scooters
• Avoid learned helplessness
• Positioning devices
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) – grew out of architecture and
making space available for all people; for children, it is to provide
learners with materials that can be accessed and used in a variety of
ways; further information available online at the CAST, an educational
and research organization about Universal Design for Learning

10. Adaptive Materials and Equipment (cont.)
• Pp. 151 – 156 in your text describe manipulatives, creative materials,
self-help devices and environmental barriers that can be adapted for
use with children both with and without disabilities (think UDL)
• All of these suggestions may be useful for your final Environment Key
Assessment 

11. Health Problems
• Asthma – common, but very serious health problem for children
• Know what to do in the event of an asthma attach
• Cystic fibrosis – most common inherited chronic disease among
Caucasian children; incurable; people may now live into their 30s and
40s with this disease; causes respiratory and digestive problems.
• Hemophilia – rare inherited blood clotting disorder
• Leukemia – most common cancer among children; much higher
survival rate than in the past
• Sickle-Cell Anemia – incurable disease found among African American
children, but is decreasing in the U.S.

12. Health Problems (cont.)
• Heart problems –
• Diabetes
• Type 1 – is caused by an autoimmune disorder; the rarer type of diabetes
• Type 2 – the body fails to use insulin efficiently; may cause hypoglycemia or
hyperglycemia
• Seizure disorders
• Febrile seizures – these are not harmful and are brought on by a high fever
• “Generalized tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizures”
• Absence seizures (petit mal) – may be more difficult to recognize
• Partial psychomotor seizures

13. Health Problems (cont.)
• AIDS
• Obesity – causes various health problems; may cause social and
emotional problems; encourage healthy eating and appropriate
exercise for all children in your care
• Health Problems and Classroom Practices
• Maintaining health records; see required records from NC DCDEE and the NC
School Health Program Manual
• Administer medications as permitted by NC DCDEE
• Emergencies – have emergency plans that are practiced
• Maintain confidentiality