Cerebral Palsy Symptoms,Prevention

Cerebral palsy is defined as "a group of permanent disorders of the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitation, that are attributed to non-progressive disturbances that occurred in the developing fetal or infant brain." While the central feature of CP is a disorder with movement, difficulties with thinking, learning, feeling, communication and behavior often occur along with cerebral palsy. Of those with CP, 28% have epilepsy, 58% have difficulties with communication, at least 42% have problems with their vision, and 23–56% have learning disabilities.
Cerebral palsy is characterized by abnormal muscle tone, reflexes, or motor development and coordination. There can be joint and bone deformities and contractures . The classical symptoms are spasticities, spasms, other involuntary movements , unsteady gait, problems with balance, and/or soft tissue findings consisting largely of decreased muscle mass. Scissor walking and toe walking are common among people with CP who are able to walk, but taken on the whole, CP symptomatology is very diverse. The effects of cerebral palsy fall on a continuum of motor dysfunction, which may range from slight clumsiness at the mild end of the spectrum to impairments so severe that they render coordinated movement virtually impossible at the other end of the spectrum.
Babies born with severe CP often have an irregular posture; their bodies may be either very floppy or very stiff. Birth defects, such as spinal curvature, a small jawbone, or a small head sometimes occur along with CP. Symptoms may appear or change as a child gets older. Some babies born with CP do not show obvious signs right away. Classically, CP becomes evident when the baby reaches the developmental stage at 61⁄2 to 9 months and is starting to mobilise, where preferential use of limbs, asymmetry, or gross motor developmental delay is seen.

Resulting conditions can include seizures, epilepsy, apraxia, dysarthria or other communication disorders, eating problems, sensory impairments, intellectual disability, learning disabilities, urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, and/or behavioural disorders.
Symptoms of Cerebral Palsy 
Language
Speech and language disorders are common in people with cerebral palsy. The incidence of dysarthria is estimated to range from 31% to 88%. Speech problems are associated with poor respiratory control, laryngeal and velopharyngeal dysfunction, and oral articulation disorders that are due to restricted movement in the oral-facial muscles. There are three major types of dysarthria in cerebral palsy: spastic, dyskinetic (athetosis), and ataxic.
Overall language delay is associated with problems of intellectual disability, hearing impairment, and learned helplessness. Children with cerebral palsy are at risk of learned helplessness and becoming passive communicators, initiating little communication. Early intervention with this clientele, and their parents, often targets situations in which children communicate with others so that they learn that they can control people and objects in their environment through this communication, including making choices, decisions, and mistakes.
Skeleton
In order for bones to attain their normal shape and size, they require the stresses from normal musculature. Osseous findings will therefore mirror the specific muscular deficits in a given person with CP. The shafts of the bones are often thin (gracile) and become thinner during growth. When compared to these thin shafts (diaphyses), the centres often appear quite enlarged (ballooning). With lack of use, articular cartilage may atrophy, leading to narrowed joint spaces. Depending on the degree of spasticity, a person with CP may exhibit a variety of angular joint deformities. Because vertebral bodies need vertical gravitational loading forces to develop properly, spasticity and an abnormal gait can hinder proper and/or full bone and skeletal development. People with CP tend to be shorter in height than the average person because their bones are not allowed to grow to their full potential. Sometimes bones grow to different lengths, so the person may have one leg longer than the other.
Pain and sleep
Pain is common and may result from the inherent deficits associated with the condition, along with the numerous procedures children typically face. Pain is associated with tight or shortened muscles, abnormal posture, stiff joints, unsuitable orthosis, etc. There is also a high likelihood of chronic sleep disorders secondary to both physical and environmental factors.[
Eating

Those with CP may have difficulty preparing food, holding utensils, or chewing and swallowing due to sensory and motor impairments. An infant with CP may not be able to suck, swallow or chew. Children with CP may have too little or too much sensitivity around and in the mouth. Fine finger dexterity, like that needed for picking up a utensil, is more frequently impaired than gross manual dexterity, like that needed for spooning food onto a plate.Grip strength impairments are less common.
Prevention For Cerebral Palsy
In those at risk of an early delivery magnesium sulphate appears to decrease the risk of cerebral palsy. It is unclear if it helps those who are born at term.
Cooling high-risk full-term babies shortly after birth may reduce disability.