Cerebral Palsy: Types, Causes, Classifications, and Speech Effects

What type of disorder is cerebral palsy?

A non-progressive neurologic disorder.

What causes cerebral palsy?

Changes or damage to the developing brain before, during, or soon after birth.

What aspects of functioning can cerebral palsy affect?

Movement, posture, balance, sensation, perception, cognition, communication, and behavior.

What are some causes of cerebral palsy?

Congenital brain malformations, congenital infections, intraventricular hemorrhage, and sepsis.

What percentage of cerebral palsy cases involve white matter damage?

45%.

What are the four main classifications of movement disorders in cerebral palsy?

Spastic, dyskinetic, ataxic, and mixed.

What is spastic cerebral palsy characterized by?

Hypertonia (increased muscle tone).

What is dyskinetic cerebral palsy characterized by?

Wavering between hypotonia and hypertonia.

What is ataxic cerebral palsy characterized by?

Incoordination of goal-directed movements.

What are the anatomical classifications of cerebral palsy?

Hemiplegia (one side), diplegia (lower extremities), and quadriplegia (all four limbs).

What is the purpose of Botox treatment in cerebral palsy?

To block nerve signals to stop muscle contraction and allow stretching.

How can speech be affected by cerebral palsy?

Disturbances can occur in respiratory, phonatory, articulatory, and resonance systems.

What characterizes spastic CP in the articulatory/resonance systems?

Reduced VC- inadequate breath support for speech

VP incompetence- some hypernasality

Spastic dysarthria- slow, laborious and imprecise speech

What articulatory symptoms of dyskinetic/athetoid CP?

Rapid and irregular breathing, strained phonation, hypernasality, retrusion of lower lip, extended articulation transition, and exaggerated jaw movements.

What is ataxic CP characterized by in articulatory/resonance systems?

Imprecise consonants and vowels, inconsistent sound substitutions, incorrect stress, reduced prosody, poor rhythm and scanning speech.

What does scanning speech refer to?

Each syllable is produced with a pause, creating a choppy or scanning pattern.

What is choreoathetoid cerebral palsy?

Subtype of dyskinetic/athetoid. Characterized by irregular jerky muscle contractions (chorea-) and repetitive involuntary twisting movements (athetosis)