How is a child evaluated for cerebral palsy?
Most of the information leading to the diagnosis of cerebral palsy is generally obtained from a thorough medical history and examination. The most critical tasks of the healthcare provider are to identify potentially treatable causes of a child’s impairment. The healthcare provider evaluating the child with possible cerebral palsy should be experienced in neurological examination and assessment of impaired children and well-versed in the potential causes of cerebral palsy. Often, but not necessarily, this practitioner should be a pediatric neurologist. Once the examination is complete, depending on the findings, the practitioner may order laboratory tests to help in the assessment. There is no single test to diagnose cerebral palsy. But since cerebral palsy is the result of multiple different causes, the tests performed are used to identify specific causes when possible. Other tests will be performed to assess the condition of the child (nutritional status for example) or to assess oth
