BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY DEVICES FOR SITTING ACTIVITY TO CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY

Background: Most children with cerebral palsy required extensive assistance to perform everyday activities. Beneficial effects were reported from modifications implemented to reduce the amount of assistance using assistive... [ view full abstract ]

Background:
Most children with cerebral palsy required extensive assistance to perform everyday activities. Beneficial effects were reported from modifications implemented to reduce the amount of assistance using assistive technology resources (Ostensjo, Carberg & Vollestad, 2005). Given the importance of using assistive devices to perform daily activities of children with cerebral palsy, this research investigated and evaluated the implementation of devices that help sitting during meals.
Method:
This study followed a multiple baseline among activities. The participant is 5-years-old with cerebral palsy and the taught activity was to sit at the table, as part of the larger activity feeding time. The data collection instruments were the PEDI, GMFCS and MACs to characterize the functional performance, and a quantitative event protocol to score the child's performance in each of the sessions, which was scored to level the child performance. With a total of 34 sessions, recorded on video for later analysis, the research took place in the child household. Assistive technology resources were provided to adequate furniture for the placement of the child, as the implementation of the upholstered seat and a footrest.
Results:
The child increased their level of independence with the use of assistive technology resource, going from 26.75% to 77% of independence to perform the activity.
Conclusion:
Properly postural support devices seemed to be essential for functional independence in daily activities.
Application to Practice:
The study suggests that using postural support devices for children with cerebral palsy to perform daily activities are extremely important and essential for functional independence.