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Cerebral Palsy

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

  • 65 Accesses

Synonyms

CP; Little’s disease; Spastic diplegia; Spastic paralysis

Short Description or Definition

Cerebral palsy (CP) describes a group of disorders of the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitation attributed to nonprogressive disturbances that occur in the developing fetal or infant brain. The motor disorders of cerebral palsy are often accompanied by disturbances of sensation, cognition, communication, perception, and/or behavior and/or by a seizure disorder.

Categorization

Classification can be helpful in understanding the etiology, choosing a treatment, and even knowing the prognosis.

CP is classified by the type of motor impairment and its distribution:

  1. 1.

    Spastic CP:

    1. 1.

      Spastic diplegia

    2. 2.

      Spastic quadriplegia

    3. 3.

      Spastic hemiplegia

  2. 2.

    Dyskinetic and dystonic CP

  3. 3.

    Hypotonic CP

Epidemiology

It is estimated that 2–3 per 1,000 live newborns have CP. Despite improved obstetric conditions, prevalence remains stable in the last decades, probably related to...

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References and Readings

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuropediatrics, Hospital Universitario Donostia, San Sebastian, Spain

    Itxaso Marti

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  1. Itxaso Marti
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Correspondence to Itxaso Marti .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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Marti, I. (2017). Cerebral Palsy. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_406-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_406-3

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