The signs of Cerebral Palsy most often appear in the first few months of life, although diagnosis often isn’t certain until a child is at least two years old.
It’s a condition that affects everyone differently, some children may find that their life is severely impacted whereas others will find that the impact is quite minimal.
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There is no cure for cerebral palsy, but there are various treatments, therapies and surgeries that can improve quality of life. It’s also worth noting that it doesn’t get worse over time, although the way symptoms are experienced may alter as a child ages.
What is cerebral palsy?
Cerebral Palsy affects motor skills and hinders the body's ability to move in a coordinated way. It affects muscle tone and movement, and can also have an impact on other bodily functions that are reliant on muscles such as breathing, eating, talking and bladder and bowel control.
CP is grouped into three categories:
Spastic Cerebral Palsy - causes stiffness and difficulty moving.
Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy - causes uncontrolled movements.
Ataxic Cerebral Palsy - causes issues with balance and depth perception.
What causes cerebral palsy?
It’s not always possible to determine the cause of Cerebral Palsy. The symptoms are caused by the abnormal development of the part of the brain that is responsible for movement and coordination.
This damage can be caused before, during or shortly after birth. It can be caused by viral infections, genetic abnormalities and in some cases it’s thought that trauma during birth can be a factor. In these cases it may be possible to make a Cerebral Palsy Claim to help to fund the therapies and changes to your home that may be needed for a child with CP.
Signs of cerebral palsy
As Cerebral Palsy affects different children in different ways there are a lot of different signs.
| Source: https://www.nestlehealthscience.co.uk/mychildwithcerebralpalsy/cerebral-palsy |
In babies younger than six months of age some signs are:
They are stiff
They are floppy
When you pick them up, their head lags behind
For babies older than six months you can start to see more concrete signs such as:
Your baby doesn’t roll over in either direction
They can’t bring their hands together
They struggle to bring their hands to their mouth
When reaching out to grab something, they grab with only one hand while keeping the other one balled up in a fist
Once your baby reaches 10 months and older the signs are:
Crawling in a lopsided manner and appearing to drag one leg behind
Inability to stand up while holding onto support
If you notice any of these signs it’s important that you discuss them with your GP, midwife or health visitor as early as possible. Diagnosis of CP can take some time and is arrived at through a series of tests and evaluations based on observation of your child’s motor skills, so the earlier this process can begin, the earlier you can get a diagnosis.
Generally children will be diagnosed by the time they are two, but if symptoms are mild diagnosis may not be possible until they are four or five years old.
