Hi, I am looking for some advice from those of you who have some experence with Cerebal Palsy. I have a 12 month old daughter that was recently evaluated by early intervention due to missed milestones, she was found to have a 35% delay in motor skills, & a 50% delay in Language, and qualifies for weekly therapies. When I typed in "Symptoms" my daughter had 2 things popped up. Autism (Which I know about I have a little boy with mild autism) & Cerebal Palsy (Which I know very little about) So I am looking for some imput on if what she is & isn't doing could possibly be CP. She didn't roll over good until she was 8 mos, and still cannot roll from her back to stomach, or from back to sitting, Couldn't sit alone without falling sideways until 10 months and even then she leaned forward, now she can sit up though, Doesn't crawl, walk, or cruise furniture. Pulled up to stand for the first time 2 days ago, but her legs were far apart. When trying to walk with help she locks her knees, when laying on her back and trying to "Bicycle" She locks her kness (mostly her right leg) As a newborn her right leg would twich alot. 1 month ago learned how to hold a bottle. At her eval. I was told that her fine motor & self help were slightly delayed & that her hips had increased felxability. Do any of these things sound like CP? Should a mention this to her Ped? Any info would be greatly appricated!!!
Thanks,
Tina

I have a daughter who is 9 months adjusted age and is not sitting yet without falling over within minutes. She is at a high risk for CP due to a brain bleed at birth. Your daughter does have some of the symptoms of CP, but I bet it will be pretty mild (based on what she can do now) if she has it. One thing I have learned in all my research is that there are lots of kids with CP that is so mild it doesn't have much impact on their lives. Lots of them walk normally, but have some problems with specific movements and tasks. If she only has it on one side the brain can often take over a lot of the funtion for that side of the body. Also kids with hemi CP are usually of normal intelligence. My daughter seems to have some problems with her left side, but I can already see that things are getting better than they were a month ago. Babies brains do a lot of healing so symptoms can often lessen from babyhood to toddlerhood. I hope that helps.
Niki

Thank You so much for your input. Yesterday, she had an OT evaulate her for possible sensory issues, and during that eval. the OT seemed very concerned about her unsteadiness, mentioned the possibility of leg braces, and noticed that she seemed to tuck one leg behind her alot. She also has poor upper body strength. So, she will also be recieving OT along with the others. At 1 month my daughter was diagnosed with RSV, Reflux, and Sleep apnea. She was hospitalized and quit breathing 37 times in 1 hour. They did a CT scan, & an EEG but those all came back normal. Is is possible to have those come back like that but still have some damage?
Thanks,
Tina

Hi,
I have almost the exact same thing with my 11 mo old (10 mo adjusted age).@ 9 mo ped noticed delays in gross motor(but not fine).She was born 1 mo. early,had bad pathological jaundice (bilirubin 16.3, went untreated because ofan arrogant doctor) had a persistant high pitched cry...very irritable, and until 1 month ago she was waking up every hour,all day, all night.She scissors at the ankles and toe walks,she has been standing supported since 2 mo. old but couldn't sit without arching her back or flopping over until 9 1/2 mo.She still arches when she's excited or angry,which means we bathe her in an infant seat still.Her arms and legs have mild tremors when she gets agitated or tired,an eye turns in, and she has been right hand dominant since abt 9 mo old.She had tracheomalacia(floppy trachea) until a few months ago, but it was so mild that it's only manifestation was what we call 'donkey sounds"...no apnea,only trouble when she is congested.
Our ped put her in PT and OT total times 2-4 per week,and she has an auditory issue (hyperacusis) as well as vestibular and proprioceptive sensory issues. She is undergoing genetic testing in september to rule out various syndromes (such as William's syndrome,because of the auditory stuff) but the frustrating thing is that the ped and the therapists have been heavily reluctant to expound upon the subject of cerebral palsy.They suggested it in the beginning 2 mo ago because of the 'quirky" gross motor skill issues, most of which have only slightly improved or have remained unchanged with therapy.So, at 11 mo-
cannot crawl
cannot go from prone to sitting
cannot go from sitting to prone
cannot sit on knees or bend them to a right angle
toe walks
scissors frequently
clumsy on left side of body
cruises holding on to furniture
just learned to roll over
sits well but flies backwards occasionally because of arching
cannot sit on a stool or stoop
can sort objects by color and put them in a container
says about 8 words !
can pull to stand as of last week
leans to/prefers right side

The ped and therapists all call her ''quirky" because she only partially fits the clinical picture of CP,yet they are talking leg braces and are doing all the standard CP therapies.i wish they could just tell us one way or another what it is.I guess they are waiting 2 more months to see if there will be any more improvement before call it CP and they want the genetic testing results back too.I guess prematurity may also be a factor.....so hard, because all of this is not readily apparent to family,friends,etc so they see her and hear about her appointments and say-"there's nothing wrong with her ! why does the doctor want her seen?!?" and how can I tell them that it's been so hard having to rub her legs and back to get her to stop crying every night and how she gets so mad and gives up playing because she can't reach her toys or move by herself,and she wants to.we can't just set her down anywhere because she'll arch her back and fall hard.She is nothing like my other 2 kids and we are concerned that she may never be able to do things that most kids do by themselves.
I'm sorry for the length and detail of my post.It seemed like your story had similarities to ours,and I know how frustating it is to deal with a medical community who has the "wait and see" approach when you are so anxious and don't know whether your kid is disabled or not.

Tina,
It is possible for a CT scan to come back as normal and still have CP. Hopefully her problems will resolve on their own. I have read that 30%-50% of babies thought to have CP at age one don't show any signs of it as older toddlers. That makes me think there must be a lot of delayed babies that catch up.
I'm getting more and more nervous about my little one. Her new thing now is refusing to be put in the sitting position. She pushes back immediately when I put her in that position. How is she ever going to learn to sit? I feel like she hasn't made much progress in the motor skills area in months. I know how you both feel...it's so hard to not know how your baby is going to turn out.
Niki

Hi my son had cp from birth but the peditrition said their was nothing wrong with him he said he was just premature and would grow out of it. I say ask your doctor and if he said their was nothing wrong your child will grow out of it then get another opinion. My son could not walk till he was 3 years old,he learned to walk on the trampoline. He could walk on trampoline but not on the ground.He also is austic. when he was a baby he woul stifen up and throw himself backwards.

Thank You all again for your replies. It's now almost 2 months since I first posted my concerns, and she has made alot of improvement. She still will not crawl on her own, but we know she can, she is pulling up and cuising furniture, and standing for longer periods of time, she still has some right side weakness but we are working on it. Our concerns about CP are still somewhat there but she is improving so much with her motor skills that I don't know if she would get that diagnosis. Her therapists are becoming more concerned with her lack of gestures to communicate, so we will be seeing a Dev. Ped soon to try and get to the bottom of all her issues.
Thanks,
Tina

my daughter is almost 18 months old, and has just now, about 2 months ago learned to sit, but still falls, alot.she is in early intervention as well, she was diagnoised with CP at 4 months of age. to this day, she doesnt.....crawl, cruise, walking isnt in the near future, track objects. she now can hold objects though. it seems our two have alot of the same issues when i was reading your post. Her talking is very well though, she says about 20 words ior so now. im thankful for that. her right side doesnt function well, which is why they say she wont ever crawl, that she may walk but they highly doubt it without some prosedures. hope some of this helps.

kelli