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Stephen L. Kinsman, MD

JAMA. 2002;288:1399-1400.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Cerebral palsy is a syndrome of various motor impairments manifested during early childhood.¹ The notion that the condition is usually related to birth-related injury has been dispelled by sound epidemiological studies.² Prenatal factors such as brain malformations and in utero injuries are significant contributors.³ Premature birth and multiple gestation pregnancies also play significant roles in the development of cerebral palsy.^4-7

The medical and neurological classifications of cerebral palsy have focused on limb involvement and types of tone abnormalities, such as spasticity, choreoathetosis, and dystonia.^8-9 However, little is known of the prognosis for gross motor function in children diagnosed as having cerebral palsy, particularly during the early stages when the diagnosis is first made. Consequently, clinicians have limited evidence with which to respond to anxious parents who wonder, "What does the future hold?"or who ask direct questions, such as, "Will my child ever walk?"

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Author Affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Neurology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore.

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Prognosis for Gross Motor Function in Cerebral Palsy: Creation of Motor Development Curves
Peter L. Rosenbaum, Stephen D. Walter, Steven E. Hanna, Robert J. Palisano, Dianne J. Russell, Parminder Raina, Ellen Wood, Doreen J. Bartlett, and Barbara E. Galuppi
JAMA. 2002;288(11):1357-1363.
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