Activities of daily living in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy: a cross-sectional evaluation using the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills

Abstract

Upper limb impairment can affect the ability to perform and participate in activities of daily living. The level of activity and participation limitation in the home environment for children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP) is poorly understood. A greater understanding of these limitations could be used to provide targeted and appropriate intervention programmes. Level of activity and participation limitation were investigated, with the use of the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) in a representative sample of 54 South Australian children (31 males, 23 females) with hemiplegic C P, aged 3 to 12 years (mean age 7y 4mo [SD 2y 5mo]). Two AMPS tasks that were familiar to the child were performed in the home under the supervision of a trained occupational therapist. Findings suggested that younger children (3–8y) performed significantly better than older children (9–12y) for motor skill ability (0.46 vs 0.09, p=0.041) but not for process skill ability (‐0.25 vs ‐0.28, p=0.885). Functional performance for the sample was below that of age‐matched normative data. Motor performance in activities of daily living as detected by the AMPS seemed to worsen with age in children with hemiplegic C P. Further investigation into what can influence this outcome is required.

Upper limb performance and the structuring of joint movement in teenagers with cerebral palsy: the reciprocal role of task demands and action capabilities

“…Individuals with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP) face difficulty in using their upper limbs, which restricts performance of relevant daily activities (Beckung and Hagberg 2002;Fedrizzi et al 2003;Van Zelst et al 2006;Braendvik et al 2010;Klingels et al 2012). In upper limb task performance, the most consistently observed differences between unilateral CP and typically developing (TD) teenagers include longer movement durations, reduced trajectory straightness and lower peak velocities exhibited by the former (Mackey et al 2006;Steenbergen and Meulenbroek 2006;Smits-Engelsman et al 2007;Domellöf et al 2009;Jaspers et al 2009Jaspers et al , 2011.…”