The necessity of creating new functional connections with the central nervous system is a specific feature of rehabilitating patients with infantile cerebral palsy.  This practically determines the minimum time for rehabilitation, and can be easily understood from the following example:  Let us posit a seven-year old child who has spasticity or muscular atony as a result of anomalous functioning of nerves connections arising when the child was one year old.  As a result of this condition, the child cannot walk independently.  What would happen [with this child] if the abnormal nerve connections were turned off and normal genetic programming were connected?  Wouldn't this child begin to jump and run like his playmates?  Of course not.  That child would need to proceed through all phases of normal development of conditional reflexes by developing mobility and reactions to all life situations.  In addition, the body's natural defense mechanisms would begin to complicate this process.  This child would be extremely aware of how painful it would be to fall down.  This would, in some instances, speed up and, in other instances, hinder the process of developing normal mobility.  Nonetheless, this child would need to proceed through all stages of development of normal mobility that his contemporaries have completed.  Thus, even in ideal circumstances, rehabilitation would require months and perhaps even years.  Realistically, anomalous [nervous system] connections and reflexes would disappear only gradually, because the child would be continuously relearning.  From real life experience, it is clear that relearning incorrect movements is much harder than simply learning new movements from start.  Nonetheless, progress in this process would itself be the greatest stimulus to development.