TheBrownies

Keyword had

No, not correct.

This could not be more timely or relevant.

My niece, 17 now, entering her "senior" year in HS, is high functioning, physically, only a limp, but verbal/cognition is low.

I worry for her, because she may be a senior on paper, but I know she struggles to write and speak and do basic math.

I don't consider her to be "retarded", oh boy do I hate that word, but she's not fully functioning. However I fully understand that someone with CP can be extremely high functioning.

I used to work at a grad school, there was a girl with CP there who was more physically disabled than my niece, but she went on to Hopkins to enter medical school (the grad school I worked at had zero to do with medicine). She clearly had something to prove. She was awesome, but I never really got to speak to her about it, since she was on the opposite end up of the spectrum.

My point is, assume nothing. CP has a wide spectrum.