CP, formerly known as "Cerebral Paralysis," was
first identified by English surgeon
William Little in 1860. Little raised the possibility of
asphyxia during
birth as a chief cause of the disorder. It was not until 1897 that
Sigmund Freud,
then a neurologist, suggested that a difficult birth was not the cause
but rather only a symptom of other effects on fetal development.[80]
Research conducted during the 1980s by the National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) suggested that only a small
number of cases of CP are caused by lack of oxygen during birth.[81]
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