Aim. To explore the effect of an Early Intensive-Upper Limb intervention (EI-UL) compared to EI-UL with integrated Multisensory Stimulation And Priming (MuSSAP) training on improving manual ability in infants with a unilateral brain lesion. Method. A pilot randomised clinical trial with pre- and postintervention and follow-up measurements (T0, T1, and T2) was conducted. Sixteen infants with a unilateral brain lesion (corrected age is 4-10 months) received home-based intervention with video coaching. Eight infants received EI-UL and eight infants received EI-UL with integrated MuSSAP training. Primary outcome was the Hand Assessment for Infants (HAI) score. Additionally, effects were explored on initiation of goal-directed movements in both groups and on attention in the EI-UL with integrated MuSSAP training group. Results. No significant group differences in HAI scores were found. Overall, HAI ‘Affected hand score’ increased between T0 and T1 ( p = 0.001 , Cohen ’ s   d = 1.04 ) and between T0 and T2 ( p < 0.001 , Cohen ’ s   d = 1.28 ); and the HAI ‘Both Hands Measure’ increased between T0 and T1 ( p < 0.001 , Cohen ’ s   d = 1.72 ) and between T0 and T2 ( p < 0.001 , Cohen ’ s   d = 1.81 ). At the start of the intervention, six infants (three in both groups) did not demonstrate initiation of goal-directed contralesional upper limb movements. During the intervention one infant receiving EI-UL and all three infants receiving EI-UL with integrated MuSSAP training started to initiate goal-directed movements. Conclusion. The results suggest manual ability of infants with unilateral brain lesion improved with both interventions. We hypothesize that the integrated MuSSAP training may facilitate attention and initiation of contralesional upper limb goal-directed movements. This trial is registered with NCT05533476).

Background Although early home-based upper limb training programs are promising, in-depth understanding of parents’ experiences with these programs is still limited. We developed an early home-based upper limb training program for infants and toddlers (8–36 months) with or at risk of unilateral cerebral palsy using video coaching for parents. The aim of this qualitative study was to evaluate parents’ experiences with the home-based training program using a video coaching approach in order to optimize implementation strategies. Methods We held semi-structured interviews with parents of 13 children with unilateral cerebral palsy, who participated in our program in the period from 2014 – 2017. On average, parents had delivered two training periods of the program at the time of the interviews. Interviews were analyzed using inductive thematic content analysis. Results We identified three overarching interacting themes that shaped the experiences of parents with the program: 1) Parental learning comprising the subthemes parents’ training competencies and the facilitative and reinforcing role of video coaching, 2) Parental load comprising the subthemes flexibility of the program, supportive network, competing demands, and child’s mood and functional capacities, and 3) Parental perseverance comprising the subthemes beliefs and expectancies and seeing child’s functional improvements. Conclusions For successful implementation of an early home-based upper limb training program using video coaching, support in delivering home-training from a therapist or from others within parents’ social network, is needed to relieve parental load. Seeing functional improvements of their child on the videos increased parents’ motivation to continue with the training. Positively phrased feedback from an occupational therapist stimulated parents’ perseverance and training competency.