Cerebral
palsy symptoms found in children with congenital CP varies widely
from mild to moderate learning disabilities, up to more severe
forms of retardation. The cause of most cerebral palsy cases
remains undetermined. But the category at highest risk of developing
CP is mainly comprised of very premature babies who don’t
cry within five minutes of birth, who require breathing assistance
on a hospital ventilator for a month or more, or who are found
to have bleeding on their brain. Infants with heart, kidney
or spine malformations are also at risk to develop cerebral
palsy because the malformation is often also found on the brain.
Cerebral
palsy symptoms differ according to the type or classification
of the movement problem, an example of which is spastic cerebral
palsy affecting the muscles, with spasticity meaning that
muscle is unable to fully relax. Signs and symptoms of cerebral
palsy can also be grouped by the body parts affected, such
as hemiplegia cerebral palsy which attacks the leg and arm
on one side of the body, or diplegia cerebral palsy that primarily
affects both of the legs. Quadriplegia cerebral palsy symptoms
involve all of the extremities and also affect the neck and
trunk muscles of the body, and this often means the person
is unable to walk without assistance or a motorized device.
Another form is ataxia, which causes cerebral palsy symptoms
of poor balance and coordination. The various subdivisions
of CP that are found in kids and grownups are almost overwhelming,
but there are an equally vast number of resources on the Internet
to aid in correctly classifying the form and specific type
of CP that the person is suffering from.
The
term ‘cerebral palsy’ most often describes impairments
to muscles or movement due to brain damage in young children.
Healthy kids will often have questions about CP, coming home
from school and asking their parents about the
cerebral
palsy symptoms of a classmate. The following terms can be useful
in discussing the situation with kids. ‘Impaired’
is the correct description if the afflicted child can’t
control spastic muscles. ‘Disabled’ means the
child cannot perform normal activities and movements that
other kids perform in daily life, due to their cerebral palsy
symptoms.
|