Glossary
- ataxic cerebral palsy
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Ataxic CP causes problems with balance and coordination.
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
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A developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior. Although autism can be diagnosed at any age, it is said to be a “developmental” disorder because symptoms generally appear in the first two to three years of life, and certainly before the age of maturity.
- Cerebral Palsy
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A group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture
- Chromosomes
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Long strands of DNA supported by protein that are found in the nuclei of human cells.
- Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy
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Dyskinetic CP causes problems in controlling the movement of hands, arms, feet, and legs, making it difficult to sit and walk. Sometimes the face and tongue are also affected.
- Epilepsy
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A disability that, when untreated, can result in recurrent, unprovoked seizures.
- Intellectual Disability
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Characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem solving) and in adaptive behavior, which covers a range of everyday social and practical skills. This originates before the age of 18.
- mixed cerebral palsy
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Presents symptoms of more than one type of CP. The most common type is spastic-dyskinetic CP.
- Neurological Impairments
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Neurological impairments originate in the brain, spine and the nerves that connect them. There are more than 600 disorders of the nervous system, such as brain tumors, Parkinson's disease and stroke as well as less familiar ones such as frontotemporal dementia. The term “neurologic disorder” applies to any condition that is caused by a dysfunction in part of the brain or nervous system, resulting in physical and/or psychological symptoms.
- Spastic diplegia/diparesis
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A type of CP in which muscle stiffness is mainly in the legs, with the arms less affected or not affected at all.
- Spastic hemiplegia/hemiparesis
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This type of CP affects only one side of a person’s body; usually the arm is more affected than the leg.
- Spastic quadriplegia/quadriparesis
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The most severe form of spastic CP and affects all four limbs, the trunk, and the face. People with spastic quadriparesis usually cannot walk and often have other developmental disabilities such as intellectual disability; seizures; or problems with vision, hearing, or speech.
