Objectives: Spastic hemiplegia cerebral palsy is the second type of cerebral palsy among premature infants, which affects the mobility of one side of the body by impairing the brain's ability to send nerve impulse to the muscles. The present research aims to examine the effect of motor training in mirror therapy on the gross motor skills in Spastic Hemiplegia Cerebral Palsy (SHCP) children. Methods:This experimental study, 14 children with SHCP were selected using convenience sampling and randomly divided into two groups, i.e. mirror therapy or therapy group (7 children) and the control group or without mirror therapy (7 children). The gross motor skills for both groups was measured using Box and Block Test in the first session as pre-test. Later, the first group participated in motor training such as wheeling shoulder, adduction and abduction arm, throwing tennis balls into the basket, pushing a cylinder, rolling a tennis ball, rowing with elastic bands, etc. Both groups participated in 16 sessions of 30 minutes each. The control group completed the above program without a mirror. The post-test was conducted using the same procedure as the pre-test. Results:Results showed that the gross manual dexterity significantly promoted from pre-to post-test in both groups (P<0.05), but comparisons showed that the therapy group outperformed the control group in gross motor skills of their affected hand (P<0.05). Discussion:The finding of this study suggests that though motor training were beneficial for gross manual dexterity, mirror therapy had higher efficiency and efficacy. Therefore occupational therapists can benefit from this program in their remedial sessions for SHCP children.

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Background: Students with dysgraphia often find it challenging to organize, prioritize, and store information. These problems are known as poor executive function. On the other hand, the performance of motor exercises can affect cognitive and executive functions through the secretion of nerve growth factors. Objectives: The present study examined the effect of motor exercises on the serum level of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and executive function in children with dysgraphia. Methods: In this interventional study, 40 male third to fifth grade students with dysgraphia were selected through purposive sampling and randomly allocated to experimental and control groups. The exercise program including a set of motor exercises selected from the Lincoln-Oseretsky motor development scale was implemented for 12 weeks (three 45-minute sessions per week). Blood samples were taken 48 hours before the first session and 48 hours after the final session of fasting participants. Moreover, the Wisconsin card sorting task (WCST) was implemented to examine students' executive function. Results: The analysis of covariance, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis were employed to analyze the data (P < 0.05). Results showed that, after a course of motor exercise, the serum level of BDNF and executive function were significantly increased. Moreover, results indicated a significant relationship between the serum level of BDNF and executive function. Conclusions:The present study revealed that motor exercises may improve executive function in children with dysgraphia by increasing the level of BDNF.

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