The symptoms of pediatric cerebral palsy include motor disorders, postural disorders, language disorders, visual and auditory disorders, growth disorders, dental development disorders, orofacial dysfunction, emotional and behavioral disorders, and epilepsy.
1.Motor impairment.
Children with cerebral palsy have lower motor ability than normal children of the same age and poor motor self-control ability.
2. Postural disorders.
Children with cerebral palsy have abnormal body posture, poor postural stability, twisted posture during movement or at rest, asymmetry between the left and right sides, and in some severe cases, the head is often not in a vertical and central position like a normal child, but is used to leaning to one side, or swaying back and forth from side to side.
3. Intellectual disability.
Among all children with cerebral palsy, about 1/4 of them have normal intelligence, about 1/2 of them have mild or moderate intelligence deficiency, and about 1/4 of them have severe intelligence deficiency.
4. Language impairment.
Most of the children with cerebral palsy may have different degrees of language disorders, some manifest as difficulty in language expression or difficulty in constructing language, some manifest as slurred pronunciation or stuttering, some also manifest as aphasia, that is, they can understand others’ language but cannot speak by themselves, and this condition especially accounts for a large proportion of cerebral palsy of the tachycardia type in the hands.
5. Visual and auditory impairment.
Many children with cerebral palsy have myopia or strabismus, with internal strabismus being the most common. Hearing loss is more common in tachycardic cerebral palsy. Children with cerebral palsy often have difficulty in discriminating the rhythm of sounds.
6. Growth and developmental disorders.
Some children with mild cerebral palsy can have basic or nearly normal growth and development, but most children with cerebral palsy are shorter than normal children of the same age and appear to be behind in growth and development.
7. Dental development disorders.
Most of the children with cerebral palsy have poorly developed teeth, and their teeth are loose and easily decayed, and the incidence of various dental diseases is higher than that of normal children.
8. Oral and facial dysfunction.
A part of children with cerebral palsy have obvious spasm or uncoordinated contraction of both facial muscles and tongue muscles. This leads to difficulty in chewing and swallowing, difficulty in closing the mouth and drooling.
9. Emotional and behavioral disorders.
Many children with cerebral palsy, especially those with tardive dyskinesia, have stubborn and capricious personalities, with large changes in mood swings, good feelings and irritability, some are even withdrawn and do not get along. Abnormal behaviors are manifested as
(1) compulsive behavior: they force themselves to make a certain action.
(2) Self-injurious behavior: hitting oneself or hitting the wall with one’s head.
(3) Aggressive behavior: hitting others, but it is less common.
10. Epilepsy.
About 39% – 50% of children with cerebral palsy have epilepsy induced by fixed lesions in the brain, and the incidence of epilepsy is particularly prominent in children with severe mental retardation.