Patient's question:
My daughter is two and a half years old. She was born with asphyxia and had two hematomas on her head. Now she cannot speak and has difficulty walking. She has also had a few episodes of seizures.Doctor's answer:
Hello: Before treatment for children with cerebral palsy, an assessment of the child's motor function should be conducted. In addition to the conventional rehabilitation assessment (100 assessment items), it is also necessary to evaluate according to the developmental program for children's motor function. This approach includes assessing initial reflexes and automatic reactions, as well as evaluating the stages based on motor development markers.Scissor gait and foot drop are two common clinical signs in children with cerebral palsy. These signs are caused by three factors: first, the absence of primitive reflexes and the lack of normal reflexes; second, abnormal muscle contractions; and third, muscle contractures. In a relaxed state, scissor gait and foot drop can be corrected. When these signs appear during movement, they are usually caused by abnormal muscle contractions. Manual correction during training generally yields effective results.
If scissor gait and foot drop appear only during movement and disappear in a relaxed state, this indicates the disappearance of primitive reflexes. However, if these signs persist even in a relaxed state and do not improve with activity, it is due to muscle contractures. In such cases, the meridian massage method is needed to correct the condition.
A child with good sitting balance who can crawl and roll over may achieve independent walking within three months with the support of medical treatment. The process of learning to walk involves two stages: the first stage is the ability to walk with support for 20–50 meters, with good stride length and balance. The second stage is correcting posture, which is more challenging and requires good overall foundational function in the child to enable effective control and coordination. At this stage, stride width, step count, and gait improve, and the child can climb stairs (15 cm high). This stage requires a longer duration and is prone to setbacks, so each movement must be practiced repeatedly.
Joint mobilization should be used to massage each joint for 20 minutes daily (as believes "joints are used for movement"). This ensures the ideal outcome for the second stage, which is the final step in cerebral palsy recovery. The better the posture is corrected, the higher the quality of life for the child, and the stronger their ability to reintegrate into society.
。Cerebral palsy is a holistic condition, affecting 70% of children intellectually and 30–40% linguistically. Therefore, physical rehabilitation must be synchronized with intellectual and language rehabilitation to achieve true recovery, enhance quality of life, and enable earlier social reintegration. This reduces the burden on both the family and society.
Unlocking the immense potential of children with cerebral palsy requires the joint effort of family members and medical staff. The language impairments and cognitive delays in children with cerebral palsy are distinct from those of individuals with deafness or dementia. Their language function is not absent but has been functionally underutilized due to a lack of long-term guidance. Many parents desperately seek quick fixes while neglecting early language rehabilitation training.
The principle of language training is to guide the child with language during physical rehabilitation. Long-term linguistic guidance increases information feedback to the brain, forming simple reflex pathways. This transitions conscious voluntary movements into unconscious reflex actions, creating logical reflex pathways in the brain and memory in the central nervous system. Many children experience improvements in intelligence and language alongside motor function.
Only by synchronizing physical, intellectual, and language rehabilitation can children achieve the ultimate goal of four-skill synchronization: walking (sitting, standing, crouching, walking); grasping (extending, flexing, grasping, releasing); speaking (single sounds, speaking, continuous sounds, singing); and recognizing letters (listening, knowing, learning, reading).
Therefore, as long as active treatment is pursued, there is no problem.