The sequence of events for CP goes as follows (7, 8):

• Perinatal brain injury/insult, i.e. from the time of pregnancy till a few months after birth, happens for one reason or another.
• The brain receives a severe insult during such a critical time of ongoing brain maturation.
• This could happen due to difficult labor, due to severe neonatal infection (ex. meningitis), or even due to neonatal head trauma.
• All of these insults cause injury to different brain cells, especially one type of cells known as oligodendrocytes.
• Some insults could reduce blood/oxygen supply to the brain (hypoxia), some insults increase the level of toxic brain free-radicals, and some release pro-inflammatory substances inducing cellular damage of brain cells and oligodendrocytes.
• Oligodendrocytes are the cells responsible for something called “Myelination” of the neuronal axons within the white matter of the central nervous system which allows neural signal transmission within the brain and from the brain to the whole body.
• Having an inappropriately myelinated nervous system – known as leukomalacia – leads to lacking brain connectivity and characteristic motor features of CP.
• The severity or extent of brain injury usually correlates with the severity of the child’s motor symptoms.