Health Law

Cerebral Palsy Symptoms

You may already know that cerebral palsy affects thousands of newborns across America due to medical malpractice or natural causes. But you may be wondering how you would know if your child may seem healthy but is actually developing cerebral palsy in the first couple years of life. When an infant or child endures brain damage they are several symptoms that can can signal to you and your doctors that something may be wrong with your child's health. In the first few months after being born, an infant with brain damage may show some or all of the following symptoms which may indicate the development of cerebral palsy and other disabilities:

• Lack of alertness
• Constant rirritability or fussiness
• Abnormal, high-pitched cry
• Shaking of the arms and legs
• Poor feeding abilities, problems sucking and swallowing
• Low muscle tone

Once you child reaches six months of age, it should becomes apparent as to whether he or she is picking up basic movement skills or learning slower than normal. Infants with cerebral palsy develop physically and mentally slower. Simple activities like rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking and talking may prove difficult for your child if they are developing, or already have cerebral palsy. 
 
Why Would There be a Delay in Diagnosis?
 
In certain cases, doctors may delay in diagnosing a child with cerebral palsy. This is due in part to the fact that the disability lies in the plasticity of a child's central nervous system and it's difficult to determine how able a child is ability to recover from any trauma he or she may have encountered during delivery. It is also hard to tell the amount of brain damage that has occured in the first few months of life. It has been proven that the brains of very young children can repair themselves easier and faster than those of adults.
 
This is why it is so important that whether your delivery has no complications and your child seems healthy, you see your doctor regularly to have you child's health checked. Cerebral palsy can only be diagnosed with a complete exam of your child's current health status. During an exam your child's motor skills will be analyzed and the doctor will look for abnormal movements, lower than average muscle tone, and other developmental delays.

Full post as published by Cerebral Palsy Law Blog on November 12, 2009 (boomark / email).