Breathing in Children with Cerebral Palsy Developmental Neurorehabilitation published research comparing breathing in children with cerebral palsy to neurotypical peers. The participants in the study included 20 children with cerebral palsy (GMFCS levels I-III) and 20 neurotypical children ages 7-11 years old. To determine the immediate effect of breathing rate on heart rate (HR) and heart […]
Rhythmic Auditory Cueing and Gait Rhythmic auditory cueing provides a uniform or patterned recurrence of a beat or accent to offer an external cue for to influence motor execution. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment published a research review to analyze the effects of rhythmic auditory cueing on spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters of gait in people with cerebral palsy. After reviewing […]
Exercise Interventions for Children with Cerebral Palsy Disability and Rehabilitation published a systemic review to determine the effectiveness of active exercise interventions for improving gross motor activity/participation of school-aged, ambulant/semi-ambulant children with cerebral palsy. The systemic review included 34 studies with seven interventions that reported on gross motor function although a limited number studied participation […]
Task-Oriented Training for Children with Hemiplegia The Journal of Physical Therapy published research on task-oriented training for children with hemiplegia. The researchers investigated the effects of task-oriented training (TOT) on hand dexterity and strength in 12 children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Six children were assigned to the experimental group who received the task-oriented training for […]
Young People’s Attitudes About Standing Frames As therapists, we frequently recommend standing frames for children with cerebral palsy or other developmental disorders. A question to ask yourself is do you frequently check for ease and comfort of use with the client? This is a question that needs to be asked over and over again. Children […]
Less Affected Hand in Unilateral Cerebral Palsy When working with children who have hemiplegia, do you address the less affected hand in unilateral cerebral palsy? Or do you assume that the less affected hand is within normal limits for typical child development? Sometimes, the difference between the hands, gives the impression that the less affected […]
Motor Planning and Cerebral Palsy The Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology recently published longitudinal research on motor planning and cerebral palsy. Motor planning is the ability to plan out all the steps required for a motor action and carry out each step in the correct order. It is important to have efficient motor planning […]
Research Review on CIMT and Bimanual Therapy for Children with Cerebral Palsy Pediatric Physical Therapy published a systematic review comparing modified constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) and intensive bimanual therapy in upper limb function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. After searching 4 electronic databases from 2009-2015, eight articles met the inclusion criteria with a total of […]
Functional Power Training Program for Children with Cerebral Palsy Did you know that 60-70% of ambulatory children with spastic cerebral palsy are integrated into their community, schools and recreational activities? These children strive to participate in the same activities as their typical developing friends and peers. It can be very difficult though due to decreased walking […]
Motor Learning in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy Disability and Rehabilitation published research to examine explicit and implicit learning in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. The study compared the motor learning of children with left and right unilateral cerebral palsy and typically developing children while they shuffled disks toward a target using a prism-adaptation design. Each […]