How does it occur?

Cerebral palsy is not a disease and is certainly not infectious or hereditary. It is unusual for two cases to occur in the same family. Broadly speaking, a spastic child is born in every 800 births, without any distinction of sex, race, maternal age or social background.

Cerebral palsy can be due to many factors. In some cases, there had been damage during pregnancy, or the child's brain may suffer damage when he or she is born. However, difficult labour is not the only cause of cerebral palsy. In a number of cases the problem can be traced to an illness or brain injury during the early years of a child's life.

The birth of a spastic child is not the fault of either parent as even the experts are still unable to identify all the causes of this disorder.