Question
My child is 10 months and 1 year old, can walk but cannot speak, nor can he urinate or defecate independently. It seems that he does not understand others’ words. The rehabilitation center in our hospital diagnosed him with moderate developmental delay, but my neighbors say it’s no big deal; it’s just a slower development.
Answer
The lesions of cerebral palsy are complex and varied, with different clinical manifestations, mainly divided into spastic, non-spontaneous movement, ataxic, mixed, and other types. Children with cerebral palsy are not necessarily intellectually disabled, common motor function impairments and postural abnormalities are often seen. The main causes include premature birth, hypoxia, jaundice, poisoning, birth injury, and neonatal trauma. Cerebral palsy is a relatively serious disease. Cerebral palsy refers to a syndrome caused by non-progressive brain damage due to certain reasons before, during, or in the early infancy of birth. Among children with cerebral palsy, about one-fourth have normal intelligence, about half have mild to moderate intellectual disability, and a certain proportion have severe intellectual disability.