Cerebral palsy in the 21st century: is there anything left to say?

In April 2009 I was honoured to be asked to present the Emil Becker Lecture at the 35 (th) annual meeting of the German-Swiss-Austrian Society for Neuropaediatrics (Gesellschaft für Neuropädiatrie). Focusing on my interest and involvement as a clinician and researcher in cerebral palsy, I took the opportunity to look both back at the past 35 years and forward to what I believe are some of the important clinical challenges that are still to be addressed and solved in the 21 (st) century. This paper is therefore a personal reflection rather than a comprehensive review of the literature in cerebral palsy. It is my hope that these reflections will be of interest to others. (c) Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart, New York.