What are the consequences of cerebral palsy in children?

Some children are born with cerebral palsy, but the severity of the condition varies from child to child. Some children have milder symptoms. When I was in high school, there was a student who also had cerebral palsy, but he still studied very hard and everyone admired him. Cerebral palsy in children will have many consequences and will also affect their future growth. Let’s take a look at the consequences of cerebral palsy in children.

1. Emotional and behavioral disorders: Most children with cerebral palsy have abnormal emotions or behaviors, which are related to impaired brain function. A large amount of experimental and clinical data show that when the brain's limbic system, especially the hippocampus, is damaged, it can cause emotional abnormalities in children. Children with the disease often show symptoms such as being crybaby, willful, stubborn, withdrawn, having a strange temper, being emotionally fragile, and easily excited. Some have a sense of happiness and emotional instability. Children with the athetoid type are more common. In addition, most children with cerebral palsy show symptoms such as excessive activity, distraction, and disorganized behavior. Occasionally, children are seen engaging in self-injurious "compulsive" behaviors such as hitting their heads or jaws with their hands.

2. Mental retardation: More than 2/3 of the children have intellectual disabilities, and about 1/4 have severe intellectual disabilities. The intelligence of children with spastic quadriplegia and spastic cerebral palsy is even worse. It is rare for children with athetosis to have severe intellectual disability.

3. Visual impairment: About 25% to 50% of children suffer from visual impairment, the most common of which are esotropia and refractive errors, such as myopia, amblyopia, strabismus, etc. A few have nystagmus, and occasionally are completely blind. Children with hemiplegia may have homonymous hemianopsia. Visual defects can affect eye-hand coordination.

4. Sensory and cognitive abnormalities: Children with cerebral palsy often have deficiencies in touch, position sense, solid sense, and two-point discrimination.

5. Language disorders: About 1/3 to 2/3 of the children have language disorders to varying degrees. It manifests as delayed language development, difficulty in pronunciation, unclear articulation, inability to speak in complete sentences, inability to express one's meaning correctly, and some children are completely aphasic.

6. Orofacial and dental dysfunction: About 25% of children with cerebral palsy have weak sucking, difficulty swallowing and chewing, poor lip closure, frequent drooling, and some suffer from caries or incomplete tooth development. These symptoms are most common in children with athetoid arthritis.

There are many consequences of cerebral palsy in children. Parents must not give up on their children. When their children are young, they must pay more attention to their children's learning and education. They cannot give up on themselves just because their children have cerebral palsy. Parents must be stronger and encourage their children when they are young. In fact, they are the same as others. Parents must also be patient with their children's learning and education.