The Early Manifestations and Course of Diplegia in Childhood

The term diplegia should be abandoned

“…He also described its clinical evolution through the stages of hypotonia, dystonia, and rigidity. 12 Later in his 1966 review article "The neurology of cerebral palsy", he re-emphasised what he regarded as the unequivocal distinction between spastic diplegia and other bilateral cerebral palsies. 13 In 1959 in England, 8 The Little Club presented a definition and classification of cerebral palsy: "In diplegia there is affection of the muscles of all four limbs.…”

The Neurology of Cerebral Palsy

“…Patients are further classified according to the stage of the evolution of their cerebral palsy, and the extent and severity of motor involvement in the limbs. A category for mixed and other types of cerebral palsy is provided, but most of those who cannot be classified in the major categories are either too young for accurate diagnosis to be possible, or have combinations of dyskinesia and diplegia or hemiplegia and ataxia (Ingram, 1964a).…”

“…More are immature by birth weight and more are post-mature by dates than expected, and there is an excess of babies with birth weights above 3,850 g. (81 lb.) (Eastman et al, 1962;Ingram, 1964b). …”

“…The fact that the clinical findings in cerebral palsy do change, especially in young patients, means that the same sequential clinical studies used in child patients with degenerative or transient disorders of the central nervous system must be employed in those who suffer from cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is part of child neurology (Meyers, 1958;Ingram, 1966).…”

“…Attention is no longer practically confined to what happened in the perinatal period; a more detailed family history is taken as to the reproductive history of the mother, and ofher sisters, mother, and aunts (Ingram and Russell, 1961;Ingram, 1964b;Drillien, Ingram, and Russell, 1964).…”