Symptoms:

• Abnormal high muscle tone, abnormal muscle movements
• Behavior problems
• Decreased mental function
• Decreased muscle tone
• Difficulty walking
• Feeding difficulties
• Frequent falls
• Inability to perform normal tasks
• Incontinence
• Irritability
• Loss of muscle control
• Nerve function problems
• Personality changes
• Poor school performance
• Seizures
• Speech difficulties, slurring
• Swallowing difficulty

Signs and tests:

Signs include:

• Abnormal eye movements
• Abnormal posture
• Decreased or no deep tendon reflexes
• Coma
• Optic nerve atrophy

Possible tests include:

• Blood or skin culture to look for low arylsulfatase A activity
• Blood test to look for low arylsulfatase A enzyme levels
• CT scan
• DNA testing for the ARSA gene
• MRI
• Nerve biopsy
• Nerve velocity conduction studies
• Urinalysis
• Urine chemistry