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Book review

CEREBRAL PALSY: CARING AND COPINGM Goodman and B Katz (eds). Witwatersrand: Witwatersrand University Press. 1998.ISBN 1 8681 4329 5

This book was written as a ‘simple manual designed to help parents and caregiversoffer children the best possible opportunity to reach their fullest potential’. Itsformat is easy to use, being divided into three sections, with illustrations throughout.

Chapter 1 describes the different types of cerebral palsy in a very simplied form,and explains the need for good positioning and handling for activities. Chapter 2,Carrying, looks at some carrying methods for different types of abnormal tone, andChapter 3, Activities, provides suggestions to promote development. Each set of sug-gestions is accompanied by a ‘problems and solutions’ list. Chapter 3 is divided intofour sections: Spastic diplegia or quadriplegia; Hemiplegia; Athetoid and ataxic, andThe walking child. Finally, the problem-based index allows the reader to find hisarea of interest quickly.

Although the title of the book is misleading (it looks only at activities toimprove gross motor skills), its content is good. There are many good ideas on posi-tions for play, and handling techniques to encourage more normal movement transi-tions. Use of the problem-related approach is both interesting and innovative.

The sections relating to diplegia/quadriplegia and hemiplegia are especiallydetailed and they look at the full spectrum of severe-to-mild disability.

Despite being a good reference manual, I would be reluctant to recommend thisbook to parents/carers who have minimal therapist support, as some of the illustra-tions and instructions are unclear. It is also becoming more evident that with thechanging face of cerebral palsy, many more children are showing a mixture of prob-lems which cannot be categorized as easily as this book suggests. I would, however,recommend it to paediatric therapists starting out in neurology, and to parents/carerswho can use it in conjunction with recommendations from their therapist.

Valerie YoungEdinburgh Sick Children’s NHS Trust

Physiotherapy Research International, 4(1), 1999 © Whurr Publishers Ltd

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