What are the diagnostic criteria for cerebral palsy in children?

Every parent hopes that their children can grow up healthily, but they also have to face various diseases. Cerebral palsy, for example, is a disease that many children are prone to. It is mainly due to its certain hereditary nature. Once it occurs in a child, the consequences can be imagined. Therefore, it is important to understand the diagnostic criteria for cerebral palsy. So, what are the diagnostic criteria for cerebral palsy in children? Let’s take a closer look.

1. Progressive spinal muscular atrophy

The disease begins in infancy and symptoms usually appear after 3 to 6 months. A small number of patients have abnormalities after birth, manifested as symmetrical weakness of the upper and lower limbs, progressive muscle weakness, obvious muscle atrophy, decreased or absent tendon reflexes, and repeated respiratory tract infections due to respiratory muscle insufficiency. The children have a low cry and a weak cough. Muscle biopsy can help confirm the diagnosis. The disease is not accompanied by mental retardation, the facial expression is alert, and the eye movements are flexible.

2. Motor development retardation

Some children's motor development lags slightly behind normal children of the same age, especially premature babies. However, it is not accompanied by abnormal muscle tone and postural reflexes, abnormal movement patterns, or other abnormal reflexes of the nervous system. The symptoms of delayed motor development may disappear in a short period of time as the child grows older and focuses on sports training.

3. Congenital muscle relaxation

The children have obvious hypotonia, muscle weakness, and low or absent deep tendon reflexes immediately after birth. Usually prone to respiratory tract infections. This disease is sometimes misdiagnosed as hypotonic cerebral palsy, but tendon reflexes can usually be elicited in the latter.

4. Low intelligence

This disease often has delayed motor development, uncoordinated movements, abnormal primitive reflexes, vojta postural reflexes, righting reactions and balance reactions. It is easily misdiagnosed as cerebral palsy in early infancy, but its symptoms of intellectual disability are more prominent, muscle tone is basically normal, and there are no posture abnormalities.

The above is an introduction to the diagnostic criteria for cerebral palsy in children. I hope it will be helpful to parents. It is very unfortunate for a child to suffer from cerebral palsy, but do not jump to conclusions when such a situation occurs. It is best to go to a regular hospital for further examination. Only when you have an accurate understanding of the child's condition can you take the next step in treatment.