Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that can involve brain and nervous system functions such as movement, learning, hearing, seeing, and thinking.

Cerebral palsy is caused by injuries or abnormalities of the brain. Most of these problems occur as the baby grows in the womb, but they can happen at any time during the first 2 years of life, while the baby's brain is still developing.In some people with cerebral palsy, parts of the brain are injured due to low levels of oxygen (hypoxia) in the area. It is not known why this occurs.

Symptoms:

The signs of cerebral palsy are usually not noticeable in early infancy but become more obvious as the child’s nervous system matures. Early signs include the following:

* Delayed milestones such as controlling head, rolling over, reaching with one hand, sitting without support, crawling, or walking

* Persistence of “infantile” or “primitive” reflexes, which normally disappear 3-6 months after birth

* Developing handedness before age 18 months: This indicates weakness or abnormal muscle tone on one side, which may be an early sign of CP.

* Developmental delay – the child is developing more slowly in skills such as rolling over, crawling or sitting up

* Motor disability – inability to hold on to objects

* Mental retardation: Some, although not all, children with cerebral palsy are affected by mental retardation. Generally, the more severe the retardation, the more severe the disability overall.

* Speech problems: Speech is partly controlled by movements of muscles of the tongue, mouth, and throat. Some individuals with cerebral palsy are unable to control these muscles and thus cannot speak normally.

* Vision problems: Three quarters of people with cerebral palsy have strabismus, which is the turning in or out of one eye. This is due to weakness of the muscles that control eye movement. These people are often nearsighted. If not corrected, strabismus can lead to more severe vision problems over time.

* Hearing loss: Partial hearing loss is not unusual in people with cerebral palsy. The child may not respond to sounds or may have delayed speech.

* Abnormal movements: Movements may be unusually jerky or abrupt, or slow and writhing. They may appear uncontrolled or without purpose.   

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder that appears in early childhood. You may know it by the name attention deficit disorder, or ADD. ADD/ADHD makes it difficult for people to inhibit their spontaneous responses—responses that can involve everything from movement to speech to attentiveness.

Symptoms:

* Doesn’t pay attention to details

* Makes careless mistakes

* Has trouble staying focused; is easily distracted

* Appears not to listen when spoken to

* Has difficulty remembering things and following instructions

* Has trouble staying organized, planning ahead, and finishing projects

* Gets bored with a task before it’s completed

* Frequently loses or misplaces homework, books, toys, or other items

Autism is one of several types of pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs), also called autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It is not unusual for autism to be confused with other PDDs, such as Asperger's disorder or syndrome, or to have overlapping symptoms. A similar condition is called pervasive developmental disorder-NOS (not otherwise specified). PDD-NOS occurs when children display similar behaviors but do not meet the criteria for autism. Also, other conditions with similar symptoms may also have similarities to or occur with autism.

Symptoms:

* Significant problems developing nonverbal communication skills, such as eye-to-eye gazing, facial expressions, and body posture.

* Failure to establish friendships with children the same age.

* Lack of interest in sharing enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people.

* Lack of empathy. People with autism may have difficulty understanding another person's feelings, such as pain or sorrow.

The term migraine is derived from the Greek word “hemikrania”. This term was corrupted into low Latin as hemigranea, which eventually was accepted by the French translation as migraine.

Migraine headache is a complex, recurrent headache disorder that is one of the most common complaints in medicine. In the United States, more than 30 million people have 1 or more migraine headaches per year. Approximately 75% of all persons who experience migraines are women.

Symptoms:

Migraine Symptoms include a severe headache that occurs usually on one side of the head but sometimes can be on both sides of the head but it is very rare. There is a vast difference between the ordinary headache and migraine. Other migraine symptoms include a sensitivity to light, vomiting, nausea and sensitivity towards any kind of sound.

A person suffering from migraines will always like to relax in the dark and quiet place and most of the times relief can be obtained only when vomiting takes place. It is a recurring condition which has no fixed timings or periods but can occur even in sleep.

Mongolism is an inherited disorder in which mental retardation is a major feature. The risk of it occurring rapidly escalates when a woman exceeds the age of 40, and especially with a first A Down’s syndrome child suffers a chromosomal abnormality that results in mental retardation.

In fact, this is now often considered to be a valid reason for a legal termination of the pregnancy. A test carried out following amniocentesis at week 14 of pregnancy may detect the abnormal chromosome. But just the same, cases do occur, and these with younger women for reasons unknown.

Symptoms:

* Head is smaller than normal

* Flattened nose

* Large tongue

* Slanted eyes

* Growth retardation

* Mental retardation

* Shorter than average height

* Obesity

* Vision change

* Hearing loss

* Excessive salivation

Depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of loss, anger, sadness, or frustration interfere with everyday life. Although everyone feels sad sometimes, depression is persistent and disrupts your daily life.

Depression may be described as feeling sad, blue, unhappy, miserable, or down in the dumps. Most of us feel this way at one time or another for short periods.

Clinical depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for a longer period of time.
   
*  Persistent sadness, pessimism

*  Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness, or hopelessness

*  Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities, including sex

*  Difficulty concentrating and complaints of poor memory

*  Worsening of co-existing chronic disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis or diabetes

*  Insomnia or oversleeping

*  Weight gain or loss

*  Fatigue, lack of energy

*  Anxiety, agitation, irritability

*  Thoughts of suicide or death

*  Slow speech; slow movements

*  Headache, stomachache, and digestive problems

Memory loss, also referred to as amnesia, is an abnormal degree of forgetfulness and/or inability to recall past events. Depending on the cause, memory loss may have either a sudden or gradual onset, and memory loss may be permanent or temporary. Memory loss may be limited to the inability to recall recent events, events from the distant past, or a combination of both. Although the normal aging process can result in difficulty in learning and retaining new material, normal aging itself is not a cause of significant memory loss unless there is accompanying disease that is responsible for the memory loss.

Symptoms:

*  The individual may ask or inquire about the same thing repeatedly.

*  The individual may at times find it tough to express himself, with problems finding the right words to use.

*  The individual may not be able to perform a familiar task despite the fact that he or she may have performed that very same task previously on numerous occasions without any flaws.

*  The individual may also display symptoms that are easy to mistake and regard as absent mindedness. For example the person may misplace items and often place them in inappropriate places, such as storing a wallet in the freezer.

*  Another alarming sign is that the individual may get lost while in familiar areas or in their own neighborhood.

*  The individual may also experience mood or behavioral changes for no apparent reason.

Paralysis is the loss of muscle movement in the body. Our sense of movement is controlled by communication between the sensory nerves (which are part of the peripheral nervous system) and the central nervous system (comprised of the brain and spinal cord). Disruption of communication of nerve impulses anywhere along the pathway from the brain to the muscles can impair control of muscle movement and cause muscle weakness and loss of coordination. Muscle weakness can progress to paralysis, loss of the ability to move the muscles.

Paralysis could be localized, or generalized, or it may follow a certain pattern. Most paralyses caused by nervous system damage (i.e. spinal cord injuries) are constant in nature; however, there are forms of periodic paralysis, including sleep paralysis, which are caused by other factors.

Symptoms:   

* Changes in mood, personality or behavior

* Clumsiness

* Confusion or loss of consciousness for even a brief moment

*  Difficulty with memory, thinking, talking, comprehension, writing or reading

*  Drooling

*  Numbness

Epilepsy is a disorder in which seizures ("fits") occur repeatedly. Sometimes the fit begins as a result of damage to the brain, but usually there is no apparent reason for the fits and the animal is otherwise healthy. If you are the owner of an epileptic dog, you may have experienced the distressing sight of your pet having a fit. While the outlook may at first seem bleak, it is important to remember that in a typical fit, the dog is unconcious and not aware of what is happening. Also, in most cases, safe and effective treatment is available and most epileptic dogs enjoy a long and normal life.

Symptoms:

* smacking your lips

* rubbing your hands

* making random noises

* moving your arms around

* picking at clothes

* fiddling with objects

* adopting an unusual posture

* chewing or swallowing