1. Watch Your Child Walk
Watch your child walk in order to spot symptoms of acute cerebellar ataxia. Look for a "drunken" walk with an unsteady gait. This nervous-system disorder produces uncoordinated muscle movements in the arms, legs and midsection area. Adults and older children can get ataxia, but it most commonly affects kids under 3 year old, making identifying symptoms difficult at times. Small children who are just learning to walk may be unsteady, but as a parent you will be able to recognize if there seems to be a marked difference in the child's abilities from day to day.
2. Notice if Your Child Can Sit Still
Sitting still is hard for any child to do, but look closely to see how your child moves the rest of her body while sitting. One of the symptoms of acute cerebellar ataxia is involuntary movement of the trunk when in a sitting position. Do your child's arms sway when she reaches out for a toy or to feed herself? This type of muscle-coordination problem is also consistent with acute cerebellar ataxia.
3. Look Into Your Child's Eyes
When you look at your child, do his eyes appear to focus on you, or do you notice sudden movements of his eyes to other areas past you? Normally developing children may not always focus on what their parents are saying, and are distracted by movement just past their parents' heads. The difference between this behavior and a sign of ataxia is that your child's eye movements will seem sudden, almost wild and uncontrolled.
4. Pay Close Attention to Speech
Common symptoms of acute cerebellar ataxia are slurred speech, changes in normal volume and pitch patterns, and general difficulty in speaking. As with gross motor skills, distinguishing between an abnormality in speech and normal development can be difficult in the case of small children, who may not speak clearly to begin with. Try to assess whether your child's speech patterns have fallen below his usual capabilities. This is especially relevant to older children who can already express themselves verbally.
