Cerebral palsy.

Abstract

Few disabilities have received as much emphasis during the past few years as cerebral palsy. And yet with this emphasis there has not come the understanding and social acceptance that might be expected. Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that cerebral palsy differs from other disabling conditions because it may include all the functions of the brain. It may not only represent a motor handicap but may include sensory and mental deviations as well. So in one individual may be found the following major handicaps: visual, auditory, and sensory defects; epilepsy; speech defect; mental retardation; self-help inability; inability to walk or to move about in any way; orthopedic deformities; as well as general medical and pediatric defects. These disabilities may run the gamut from mild to severe.