Understanding cerebral palsy: symptoms

What are the symptoms of cerebral palsy?

The symptoms of cerebral palsy (CP) can vary from slight clumsiness to extensive spasticity (uncontrolled contraction of muscles attached to the skeleton). Early signs usually appear before the age of  three. Parents are often the first to suspect that their child’s motor skills are not developing normally or that their child is slow in developing. Often babies with CP are slow to reach developmental milestones such as learning to roll over, sit, crawl, smile or walk. Some affected children seem rigid or stiff. They also may exhibit an unusual posture or favour one side of their body. 

There are four types of CP:

1. Spastic CP, the most common type, is a disorder where certain muscles are stiff and weak. The stiffness can occur mainly in the legs (diplegia), only in the arm and leg of the same side (hemiplegia) or in both arms and legs (quadriplegia). A wide-based, staggering or "scissors" gait is characteristic of this type. 
2. Dyskinetic (or athetoid) CP generally involves impairment of voluntary muscle control. People with this form of CP have incomplete or fragmented motor movements often involving bizarre twisting motions, tremors and exaggerated posturing (athetosis). 
3. Mixed CP is a combination of the previous two types of CP.
4. Ataxic CP can be the combination of uncoordinated movements, loss of power, hypotonia and tremor.

Call your doctor about cerebral palsy if:

• Your baby is feeding (sucking) poorly or is very flabby.
• Your child does not seem to be developing motor skills, such as rolling over, sitting up or crawling, at a normal pace. 
• Your child's muscles seem unusually stiff. 
• Your child has an unusual posture or seems to favour one side of his or her body.