There are several types of cerebral palsy:

• Athetoid – loss of muscle control causing involuntary or spontaneous movements
• Ataxic – loss of balance and coordination, difficulty with speech and shaky hand movements. This affects balance and spatial awareness. It can make it difficult to judge your body position in relation to things around you. Ataxia can affect the whole body.
• Dyskinetic – sometimes called dystonic or choreoathetoid causes uncontrolled, involuntary, sustained or intermittent muscle contractions. Although very similar to Athetoid cerebral palsy, this type may make it difficult to maintain an upright position. The person may find it difficult to control the tongue, vocal chords and breathing. This may affect speech and language.
• Spastic – Spasticity means the muscle tone is tight and stiff. This reduces a person’s range of movement. As the muscle tone is so tight, spasticity can be very painful with muscles often going into spasm. It can affect many different areas of the body.
• Mixed – The person has a combination of two or all the types listed above. Each type of cerebral palsy needs to be managed.

Cerebral palsy often lead paralysis of the body. On the basis of how a person is affected by paralysis, we may have

• Haemiplegia– where one  side of the body is affected.
• Diplegia – 2 limbs are affected
• Monoplegia – 1 is limb affected
• Quadriplegia – 4 limbs are affected.