CP is so varied, it's hard to classify sometimes.  For example, I've been
diagnosed both as a spastic paraplegic and a spastic diplegic, although the
majority of my doctors have gone with the spastic paraplegia category.  I
suupose it's where most of the CP is located that's the final clue.

Kat


On Fri, 5 Jul 2002 12:42:17 -0400 Yvonne Craig <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

<<Ken wrote:

well guys i must admit that i am ignorant of how to classify myself. i have
some dydtonia and spasms in all my limbs, but much worse on the left sid.
that don't mean that i do not spasm in he right as i have had spasams in my
right arm and throw coffee staight up. while my left leg is worse than the
right i have spasmed enough in both ehouth to pull joints out . the arms is
worse than the legs with the left arm being worse of all 4 limbs. then i
have speech slur and dystonic neck. hey even my left eyebrow is pulled to a
different level than my right.

so how am i classified?>>

Wow, Ken! You sound a lot like Anthony. He doesn't have the dystonia but is
spastic in all 4 limbs. His arms are more affected than his legs. His left arm
is most affected. Of his legs his right one is worse. He is classified as
moderate spastic quadreplegia but that doesn't really fit... Typically, in
addition to all 4 limbs being affected, quad CP affects the trunk and head
control - his are quite good compared to how affected his limbs are.  Also,
quad usually presents with legs more affected than arms. Hemiplegia which is
one-side usually means the arm is more affected than leg on that side. So I
think of Anthony more as double hemi. Does that make sense? Also may explain
why his speech is as good as it is - with the degree of spasticity in his
arms, if he was typically quad, his mouth/ jaw/ head should be much more
affected and interfere more with his speech.

Bobby, you may want to include tri-plegia as a chategory as well.

This website has a good overview of "types" of CP:

http://www.ofcp.on.ca/aboutcp.html#Z5

As an alternative to this classification system, you might check out the
following. It is a new functional assessment which can be applied to all forms
of CP, regardless of "type." Anthony is most likely a level IV on this scale
but on the border of level III.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Village/9021/articles/gmfm.html

Also, I found this article on the Ontario Federation for CP website as well:

http://www.ofcp.on.ca/aging.html

This is very exciting what you guys are trying to do. Good luck with it! I
look forward to reading the results.

Yvonne