Forms of Cerebral Palsy: atheloid, ataxic, mixed, and spastic.
Athetoid

Currently, athetoid cerebral palsy represents approximately 10 percent to 20 percent of the cases of cerebral palsy.  The percentage used to be much higher.  Two of the most common risk factors for this form of cerebral palsy are hyperbilirubinemia (jaundice) and Rh incompatibility between the mother and the newborn.  These conditions are now routinely diagnosed and treated.  The incidence of athetoid cerebral palsy has decreased.

The motor dysfunction for a child with athetoid cerebral palsy is often described as slow, irregular, writhing, involuntary movements that occur at or around the long central line of the limb.  The movements may also be characterized as jerky, quick, and wide-ranging.  They lack stability and symmetry.

If infants are propped in a sitting position where they are trying to hold up their own trunk, an extensor spasm is likely to occur, during which the muscles spasm in such a way that the body quickly tries to straighten.  The spasm puts the children at risk of falling or jerking backwards.  They could hit their head.

Proper alignment and support of the hips, trunk, and shoulders is crucial for the child with athetoid cerebral palsy.  When the body is placed either sitting or standing and held in a symmetrical (equal right to left, straight) position with attention to the midline, involuntary movements are reduced.  The child has more chance to control the movements in the arms, which are usually the more affected of the limbs.

Most children with athetosis have a quadriplegic pattern (arms and legs involved), although the arms will usually be more affected than the legs.  Those with moderate athetosis can learn to use their extremities well enough to take care of daily activities on their own, and they can walk.  For children with severe athetosis, walking independently is not possible, and they are often not able to assist while being moved into and out of their wheelchair.  Some will have difficulty feeding themselves and will have difficulty sitting without the use of special seating support.

They have normal brain function for perceiving, recognizing, conceiving, judging, reasoning, and imagining, but because of the lack of muscle control and the presence of involuntary muscle movement, many children with athetosis find speaking and communicating difficult.  These are some of the most difficult problems to overcome, even with the use of various therapies.  For this reason, the early use of augmentative communication devices (computers or other devices to help an individual communicate/speak) should be encouraged if the child is not speaking.  These devices are similar to an artificial limb that is taking the place of a missing limb.  It allows the child to function more normally.

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Forms of Cerebral Palsy: atheloid, ataxic, mixed, and spastic.