Brain & Nervous System Cerebral Palsy Cerebral Palsy Guide Cerebral Palsy Guide Symptoms Causes Diagnosis Treatment Coping Caregiving Symptoms of Cerebral Palsy By Heidi Moawad, MD facebook linkedin Heidi Moawad is a neurologist and expert in the field of brain health and neurological disorders. Dr. Moawad regularly writes and edits health and career content for medical books and publications. Learn about our editorial process Heidi Moawad, MD Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Claudia Chaves, MD on July 09, 2019 Claudia Chaves, MD, is board-certified in cerebrovascular disease and neurology with a subspecialty certification in vascular neurology. Learn about our Medical Review Board Claudia Chaves, MD Updated on July 17, 2019 Print Table of Contents View All Frequent Symptoms Rare Symptoms Complications When to See a Doctor Next in Cerebral Palsy Guide Cerebral Palsy: Causes and Risk Factors Cerebral palsy is characterized by a collection of symptoms that range from mild to debilitating. If you have cerebral palsy, your symptoms can be similar—but more or less severe—than the symptoms experienced by someone else who also has cerebral palsy. Symptoms of cerebral palsy involve any combination of the following: lack of muscle control, diminished coordination, trouble speaking clearly, cognitive deficits, and problems with chewing and swallowing. Verywell Frequent Symptoms A key feature of cerebral palsy is that the lack of development of normal abilities, in contrast to many other childhood neurological conditions, which are characterized by a decline in abilities. Physical Weakness Cerebral palsy manifests most commonly as a lack of deliberate control of some muscles of the body. The earliest symptoms can begin in early infancy. A young baby with cerebral palsy may move less than expected if the condition is severe or may exhibit decreased movement or unusual posture of one arm, hand, or leg if the condition is mild. Some children are unable to support themselves while sitting due to lack of strength and control of the hips, trunk or chest muscles. Decreased Ability or Inability to Walk Sometimes, children who have cerebral palsy do not crawl or walk as well as they should for their age. Some children are unable to walk or crawl at all, and some have a leg or a foot that drags. A child may also hold an unusual position when they walk. Decreased Ability or Inability to Use Arms Cerebral palsy can affect movement of the arms or hands on one or both sides, making it difficult for children to hold or carry objects or to learn how to do things that require fine motor coordination, such as writing. Learning Disability Many but not all children who have cerebral palsy have learning delays, learning disabilities, or cognitive deficits. The specific problems can include slow learning, lower than average IQ or deficits in verbal, math, or spatial abilities. If you have a very young child who has cerebral palsy, it is important to know that while some children and adults who have cerebral palsy are so cognitively impaired that they are unable to care for themselves, people with cerebral palsy can have normal or above average cognitive abilities, and it may take time for your child’s cognitive abilities to emerge. Swallowing Problems When cerebral palsy causes weakness of the face, mouth or throat muscles, this can result in trouble chewing, swallowing or speaking. Some children and adults with cerebral palsy may drool while eating or while at rest. Slurred Speech or Spastic Speech Speech patterns of people with cerebral palsy can be slurred or spastic, characterized by an irregular pattern of sporadically rapid, slow, quiet or loud speech that may be difficult to understand. This occurs as a result of diminished muscle strength combined with diminished coordination that affects some children and adults with cerebral palsy. Lack of Bladder or Bowel Control Bowel and bladder control problems can include retention (inability to go when you want to) or incontinence (loss of control when you do not want to) or a combination of both. Seizures About 30 percent of people with cerebral palsy experience seizures, and generally, the more severe the cerebral palsy. Rare Symptoms Some people with cerebral palsy may experience less common symptoms. Visual Deficits and Eye Problems Decreased visual acuity in one or both eyes or a lazy eye may affect some people who have cerebral palsy. Tremors Some children with cerebral palsy may experience tremors of the face, arm or other parts of the body while at rest or when attempting to move. Tics If you or your child has cerebral palsy, you may experience episodes of involuntary (not on purpose) movements that fit the description of tics. Sensory Deficits Decreased sensation is not an uncommon complaint among people with cerebral palsy, but if you experience this symptom it may interfere with normal motor movement. It can also contribute to injuries if you do not feel painful sensations as you should. Psychiatric Symptoms Sometimes symptoms of agitation, aggression, anxiety, or hallucinations can develop among people who have cerebral palsy. Complications Over time, there are several complications that can occur as a result of the longstanding symptoms of cerebral palsy. Spasticity and Muscle Stiffness When motor weakness is rooted in conditions that originate in a person’s brain, such as cerebral palsy, the affected muscles may eventually become stiff, spastic, rigid, or may develop contractures. This can result in further difficulty with muscle movement and coordination and may cause pain in the affected arms or legs. Atrophy Atrophy, or thinning of muscles, can also develop if you have cerebral palsy. The condition is generally accompanied by a decrease in muscle tone, which appears as softness of the muscle. Sometimes, despite thinning of the muscles, you might notice that people with cerebral palsy are overweight rather than underweight, due to inability to exercise. Choking Trouble swallowing food, drinks, and saliva can result in choking, coughing or gagging while eating, drinking or at rest. Aspiration Pneumonia Choking on food may cause it to go down the trachea, which leads to the lungs, instead of down the esophagus, which leads to the stomach. When this happens, aspiration pneumonia, a lung infection, may occur. Aspiration pneumonia is a serious infection that can advance and cause sepsis or even death if it is untreated. Pressure Ulcers Prolonged sitting or lying down without being able to adjust your position or regularly move your body can produce pressure on some areas of the body, eventually causing skin abrasions that may become infected. Bladder Infections Urinary retention can lead to bladder infections due to the build-up of bacteria in the bladder when it does not regularly empty. Constipation Prolonged sitting or lying down, combined with lack of control of the muscles that control bowl movements, may contribute to constipation, which can be painful and may eventually cause problems such as hemorrhoids. When to See a Doctor Cerebral palsy is generally present at birth, but it might not be obvious right away. This is because cerebral palsy can cause a deficit in a number of skills that are not expected of a newborn infant. Some early signs of cerebral palsy that can be apparent in very young babies include choking while eating, not rolling over, and unequal movement of the left and right arms or legs. Another subtle symptom includes unusual posture of the body when your baby is lying at rest. Cerebral Palsy Doctor Discussion Guide Get our printable guide for your next doctor's appointment to help you ask the right questions. Download PDF Email the Guide Send to yourself or a loved one. Sign Up This Doctor Discussion Guide has been sent to {{form.email}}. There was an error. Please try again. Often symptoms become apparent when a child does not attain developmental milestones as expected in early childhood. These skills can include learning, independently eating solid food, speaking, walking, and learning to control movements of the hands and arms. If you're noting these scenarios, try not to panic right away. It's easy to expect the worst. Instead, bring them to your pediatrician's attention and discuss them together to attain an appropriate diagnosis and, in turn, treatment. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Cerebral Palsy. Cleveland Clinic. July 7, 2014. Al-Mayahi AA. Early Markers for Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral Palsy - Clinical and Therapeutic Aspects. November 2018. doi:10.5772/intechopen.79466. Agarwal A, Verma I. Cerebral palsy in children: An overview. J Clin Orthop Trauma. 2012;3(2):77-81. doi:10.1016/j.jcot.2012.09.001 Nordberg A, Miniscalco C, Lohmander A. Consonant production and overall speech characteristics in school-aged children with cerebral palsy and speech impairment. Int J Speech Lang Pathol. 2014;16(4):386-95. doi:10.3109/17549507.2014.917440 Chorna O, Heathcock J, Key A, et al. Early childhood constraint therapy for sensory/motor impairment in cerebral palsy: a randomised clinical trial protocol. BMJ Open. 2015;5(12):e010212. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010212 What is Cerebral Palsy? | CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Apr 30, 2019. Cremer N, Hurvitz EA, Peterson MD. Multimorbidity in Middle-Aged Adults with Cerebral Palsy. Am J Med. 2017;130(6):744.e9-744.e15. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2016.11.044 Sanivarapu RR, Gibson JG. Aspiration Pneumonia. Treasure Island, Fl: StatPearls Publishing; 2019. Urinary Retention. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Aug 1, 2014. What are the early signs of cerebral palsy? Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Dec 1, 2016. Additional Reading Chorna OD, Guzzetta A, Maitre NL, Vision Assessments and Interventions for Infants 0-2 Years at High Risk for Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review, Pediatr Neurol. 2017 Nov;76:3-13. doi: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2017.07.011. Epub 2017 Jul 20. Cooper MS, Mackay MT, Fahey M, Reddihough D, Reid SM, Williams K, Harvey AS, Seizures in Children With Cerebral Palsy and White Matter Injury,Pediatrics. 2017 Mar;139(3). pii: e20162975. doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-2975. Epub 2017 Feb 16. Gulati S, Sondhi V, Cerebral Palsy: An Overview, Indian J Pediatr. 2017 Nov 20. doi: 10.1007/s12098-017-2475-1. [Epub ahead of print]