What is the name of this disability?

Question

I am a senior and special ed student at my school, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, and there's this one student in my program who is disabled. Her name is Sarah. I see her a couple of times at school. She is frequently with a female staff member and a wheelchair along with her backpack and stuff. Sometimes she walks, and sometimes she sits in the wheelchair. This is a developmental disability in which the person can barely walk pretty good, has a bent-down body, is nonverbal, makes breathing noises through the lips (while spitting, drooling), even making clear reaction noises. A person with this type of disability needs care from a soul caregiver (parent, teacher, etc.) every day. Is it cerebral palsy? Is it neurological impairments? Is it profound mental retardation? You tell me. But be specific.

Answer 1

I'm not sure specifically what the disability is but if it is cerebral palsy it wouldn't be unusual for her to be non-verbal. It could be a combination of these issues. The issues with her mouth could be related as she may not have very good control of them.

In relation to profound mental retardation you would have to look at what type of skills she has learnt or has the potential to learn, as there are different levels of mr and the level at which she is at will impact on her real life functioning

Answer 2

You may want to research information on Dandy Walker Syndrome.  However, it sounds as though this individual would be classified as having multiple disabilities - it may even be linked to a birth abnormality, such as  underdeveloped or absent stomach muscles (poor body posture).

Answer 3

It sounds like Cerebral Palsy.  And some people with Cerebral Palsy also have some level of mental retardation, but not all of them.  Often this can be caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain during birth.  A girl used to live near me that had Cerebral Palsy but was able to go to regular school and hang out with friends on the weekend, she could walk with special crutches, but at times would need to use her wheelchair.  I used to work with a kid that sounds like the girl you described, he had CP and MR, he was a really sweet kid if you took the time to get to know him, he had a great sense of humor and he loved his Dad so much.  He died and his Dad was devastated.

Answer 4

It's hard to say specifically. It could be any one of those things or a combination of several different things.

Cerebral palsy could be the physical issues with needed a wheel chair and the hunched body. The non-verba sounds like potential retardation on some level or another. There are so many other things that could be causing this. It's really hard to pick out a disability for a person we know very little about. I'm sorry.