Cerebral” means braincentered, and “palsy,” paralysis. This is a condition present in children after birth, and affects brain centers having to do with muscular control. There is a considerable range in severity and nature of symptoms. Some afflicted persons walk with scissoring, floundering movements, awkward armflinging and head tossing and speak with difficult guttural sounds if at all. Some who are mildly afflicted do not appear to be conspicuously strange.
The cause or causes of cerebral palsy are not too clearly established. Some cases are due to brain injury during diffi. cult childbirth, but many babies born with difficulty do not have cerebral palsy. Some cases are thought to be due to infections suffered by the mother or to toxic substances in her blood that reach and damage the brain of the fetus during its early developmental stages. Rh· factor incompatibilities are sometimes implicated.
The afflicted person may show chiefly one or a combination of symptoms such as chorea (involuntary jerking move· ments of different muscle groups), athetosis (a slow, writhing type of constant movement, chiefly in the fingers), poor sense of balance, tremor, and spastic muscles. Frequently, though by no means always. there is mild to severe impair:ment of intelligence; sometimes a normal may be hidden behind difficulties of communication.
There are no preventive measures of celebral palsy, other than careful prenantal and obstetrical care which maycorrect recognized abnormalities. Physical.and speech therapy may overcome handcaps to some degree, and braces and other supportive measures may be helpful in individual cases.