What Are The Different Types of Cerebral Palsy? | Bolt Burdon Kemp What Are The Different Types of Cerebral Palsy? | Bolt Burdon Kemp

Find lawyer icon
Find your Lawyer

Free call back
Contact us
Round the clock support
Won't shy away from difficult cases
Committed to swiftly progressing claims
Brain Injury

Different types of cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy impacts different parts of the brain, affecting different parts of the body to varying degrees. Because of this, no two children or adults with the condition are the same.

Contact us for an informal chat with one of our legal experts, no strings attached
Get in touch

The 3 main types of cerebral palsy are:

  • Spastic
  • Dyskinetic
  • Ataxic

However, it is not unusual for a child to have a mixture of these types of cerebral palsy.

Do you think you have a compensation claim for medical negligence? Contact our team of caring professionals. Your child’s claim may be eligible for Legal Aid funding. We also operate on a no-win, no-fee basis.

Spastic cerebral palsy

Spastic cerebral palsy causes children to have tight and stiff muscle tone, impairing movement in the parts of the body that are affected. It means that children can also experience painful muscle spasms. The child may also suffer from learning disabilities.

Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common form as it appears in around 75% of cases.

Dyskinetic cerebral palsy

Children with dyskinetic cerebral palsy (also known as dystonic, athetoid or choreoathetoid) will suffer with involuntary muscle contractions because their muscle tone will swing from tight to loose.

These unpredictable physical changes will mean it can be difficult for a child to sit or stand upright and they may have difficulty breathing and controlling their tongue and vocal chords.

This form of the condition is found in around 20% of cases.

Ataxic

Ataxic cerebral palsy is the rarest form of the condition, with less than one in ten children suffering from it.

Children with ataxic cerebral palsy will be unable to activate the correct pattern of muscles during movement, impacting their balance and spatial awareness. Muscle tone is usually loose so it means walking can be unsteady and speech can also be affected. They may also experience tremors in their hands.

Terms to describe severity of the condition

Specific terms are used to describe the parts of the body affected by cerebral palsy:

  • Monoplegia – indicates one limb will be affected
  • Diplegia – indicates two limbs will be affected
  • Quadriplegia – signals all four limbs are affected
  • Hemiplegia – explains one side of the body is affected

Associated problems with cerebral palsy

In some cases, the brain injury which caused the cerebral palsy can sometimes cause other problems.

The most common issues include:

  • Learning difficulties
  • Behavioural difficulties
  • Epilepsy
  • Hearing impairment
  • Visual impairment
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Communication difficulties
  • Toileting difficulties
  • Feeding difficulties
  • Drooling

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Around one in every 100 people suffers from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). ASD can impact some cerebral palsy patients and can be a legacy of the brain injury that also caused the cerebral palsy. Children and adults with this condition tend to have difficulties with social behaviour, such as interacting and communicating with others.

No two children with ASD will present in the same way. There is a spectrum of intellectual ability, with some children having intact intelligence and others having impaired intelligence. However, what all children with ASD will have in common is the “triad of impairments”, namely:

  • Impairment of social interaction
    Children with ASD will struggle with the “give and take” of conversation, often preferring to speak about what interests them. Others may seem aloof and simply not interested at all in what is being said
  • Impairment of social communication
    Children with severe ASD will struggle to speak meaningfully. Children with ASD that are able to communicate may do so awkwardly, struggling to maintain eye contact and to interpret the intonation and facial gestures of others
  • Impairment of social imagination
    Children with ASD struggle with “make pretend” play. They prefer factual books and may use play characters to act out scenes they have seen in their favourite films, rather than make up their own stories

Other signs and symptoms include:

  • Difficulties understanding and expressing emotions and feelings
  • Difficulties in being alive to other people’s emotions and feelings
  • Delayed language development
  • Very narrow interests, about which they are almost obsessive
  • Distress at change – ASD sufferers are reassured by structure and routine
  • Anxiety, which can often by triggered by change and a lack of structure
  • Sensory sensitivities, for example an intense dislike of loud noises of bright light
  • Sensory seeking, such as taking risks, running everywhere, hand flapping, always being “on the go”

Does your child suffer from cerebral palsy? Might you have suffered negligent care while pregnant?

Successful Claims with Bolt Burdon Kemp

As a result of medical negligence our client suffered brain damage during birth due to oxygen starvation resulting in Cerebral Palsy. He suffered asymmetrical spastic quadriplegia, developmental delay, learning difficulties and associated mental and physical handicaps complicated by epilepsy. Liability was denied throughout the claim. Our medical negligence solicitors settled the case for £1,050,000.

More Success Stories

Our Insights

Proposed changes to Universal Credit and PIP: what you need to know

Proposed cuts to Universal Credit and the Personal Independence Payment will not help disabled people return to work – in fact it will make their…

By Cillian Davis
5 real life ways interim payments helped our clients

If you or a loved one has recently suffered a brain injury it’s completely normal to feel overwhelmed. Life has changed in an instant, and…

By Ipek Tugcu
Understanding hydrocephalus in children: why early diagnosis and treatment matter

This week (10 – 16 March, 2025) is Hydrocephalus Awareness Week, a time to show support for families affected by this condition and raise awareness…

By Ella Croyden-Flack
BBK supports younger stroke survivors with half marathon walk

Every year, about 100,000 people in the UK have a stroke. While many think of this as something affecting only older people, that is not…

By Hokman Wong
Read all posts

Here are some of the lovely things our clients have said about us...

View all Google reviews

Some of Our Accreditations

See more of our accreditations

We’re here to help you.

Want to talk to one of our experienced lawyers? We can call when it suits you for a no-obligation, strictly confidential chat.

Your browser is out of date. Please update your browser.

This site (and many others) provides a limited experience on unsupported browsers and not all functionality will work correctly or look its best.