Parents suspecting diplegia should take their child to the doctor to potentially get an earlier diagnosis. Treatment and care
This is broken up by age categories. Different ages require different forms of treatment which may include: therapy, bracing, walkers, wheelchairs, and surgery. Currently the treatments for children are concentrated primarily on independent walking but instead a more independence-oriented therapeutic approach would be more beneficial. This way the child can still focus on walking but at the same time be taught to do things for themselves while using the best method of walking for them. This could include using a walker or wheelchair to get around and do things easier than focusing all the attention on walking so early. For people requiring surgery, distal hamstring lengthening is the most common operation performed because it reduces knee flexion and improves knee motion. Birth to 1 year
“This first year sees the development of many milestones, such as head control, reaching out for a toy, sitting, starting to vocalize sounds, and finger feeding.”  Most parents want their children to excel very fast, but there is a wide upper and lower range of development time for premature babies so its very hard to diagnose cerebral palsy or diplegia this early. The most common symptom of a child with diplegia is stiff lower extremities. This should become apparent by the six month mark which means he or she does not have severe diplegia.
If a child is not walking yet, then this is usually caused by a problem in balance, muscle coordination, spasticity, or leg alignment. Each of these reasons should be looked into closely so the problem can be addressed and fixed. 7 to 12 years
“By the time a child reaches this age  the rate of physical improvement has leveled off in areas such as balance and coordination, and its a good idea to refocus the child’s attention away from additional physical improvement and toward intellectual learning.”  During this time period a child should lean away from physical therapy and do more outdoor or social exercises such as sports and adaptive P.E. Usually by age 8-10 a child has reached maximum walking ability. This will usually decrease a little when a child hits puberty and gains height and weight because walking becomes harder during this changing period. Any significant problems in walking should be addressed with surgery at this stage. 13 to 18 years
“During this time period of a child’s development, a major issue is separating from the family.”  Parents should learn how to cope with their child growing up and give them more freedom and independence. Teenagers need to make their own decisions and learn from them. One way to do this is for parents to compromise and let the child make smaller decisions so they feel important. Parents should also understand that their child may regress in walking some from increase in height and weight.