There are five types of Cerebral Palsy
Spasticity
A person with spasticity will have excessively tight muscles, resulting in difficultly with control, co-ordination, and strength. Their movements can be slow and they can fatigue easily. This is the most common form of Cerebral Palsy.
Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy / Athetosis
A person with Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy will have involuntary movements when they try to move.
Emotional changes increase involuntary movements. When they are relaxed, the child may move and respond slowly. When they are excited, they may have increased involuntary movements. It can be very difficult to interpret responses or understand communication for this reason. It is important for children to learn strategies to regulate their emotions, stabilise their body and move just the parts they intended.
Hypotonia
A person with Hypotonia has loose, floppy limbs and can have trouble finding strength to support their body and its movements. They are often first seen to struggle with head control, especially when being pulled by the arms into a sitting position.
These children need to learn strategies that build stamina and strength to support their body and movements.
Ataxia
A person with Ataxia will have difficulty with balance and maintaining posture, and have lower than normal muscle tone throughout their body.
They can have difficulty guiding and timing movements, and they can be slow to respond. Their speech will have poor pronunciation, volume and little tonal variation.
Children with Ataxia need to learn how to strengthen their trunk and stabilize their bodies.
Mixed
A combination of spasticity, Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy, Hypotonia and Ataxia.
*Source: Cerebral Palsy Education Centre (CPEC)
How Cerebral Palsy affects individuals
Cerebral Palsy affects each person differently. The way each person moves, communicates and lives their life will be completely different.
People without CP are able to move and control their bodies freely due to muscle tension, or tone, which is controlled by messages from the brain. In a person with Cerebral Palsy, these messages from the brain don’t travel the way they’re supposed to. They can be distorted, completely out of time or not occur at all.
The result is either increased muscle tension (hypertonus) or reduced muscle tension (hypotonus).
The parts of the body affected by Cerebral Palsy will differ from one person to another, along with the various body parts and areas.
Depending on which parts are affected, different terms are used to describe the effects.
- Hemiplegia – the leg and arm on one side of the body are affected.
- Diplegia – both legs are affected significantly more than the arms. People with diplegia may have some clumsiness with their hand movements.
- Quadriplegia – both arms and legs are affected. The muscles of the trunk, face and mouth can also be affected.
How does Cerebral Salsy affect people’s participation in Society?
People with Cerebral Palsy often experience difficult environments (e.g., physical barriers, prejudice, and discrimination).
However, with the right support, many people with Cerebral Palsy find ways of participating in society as others do. Elizabeth from the CPSN team shares more in her blog “we have really good lives living with CP and get to pursue the things we’re passionate about and have wonderful friends, family and colleagues the same way others do!”
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