Evaluating the outcome of an individual functional therapy program focused on children with cerebral palsy and cerebral visual impairment: a multiple case study
Sammanfattning
Background: To date, there is no evidence-based functional therapy programme available for children
with both cerebral palsy (CP) and cerebral visual impairment (CVI). This study evaluates an individually
targeted functional therapy programme adapted for these children experiencing difficulties with gross
motor functioning and functional skills.
Methods:
Participants: Five children with CP and CVI, mean (SD) age 114 (52) months, participated in this study.
Intervention: Participants were assigned to an 18-week functional therapy programme including nine
weeks of individual functional therapy aimed at improving gross motor function followed by nine
weeks of daily training of functional skills from the parents/caregivers.
Analyses: The Related Samples Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test with a significance level of p < .05 was utilised
to detect possible significant differences between the pre- and post-test.
Results: According to the Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS), each child improved gross motor functioning.
All the children also scored significantly higher in the section Functional Skills in the domains self-care
and mobility as well as in the section Caregiver Assistance in the domain of self-care.
Conclusion: This adapted individually functional therapy programme suggests improved gross motor
functioning and functional skills in children with CP and CVI.