Freud on diplegia. Commentary and translation
P. J. Accardo
Sigmund Freud's contribution to the study of cerebral palsy was threefold:
(1) he developed the classification that, essentially unchanged, is in use
today; (2) he documented a poor correlation between clinical syndromes and
neuropathologic lesions; and (3) he contributed extensively to the
description of the various movement disorder syndromes of childhood. The
clinical expertise implicit in this last aspect of Freud's pediatric
neurologic work has been previously unremarked. To my commentary is
appended a translation of his article describing the complexity of spastic
diplegia (Little's disease).
