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Reply To: | St. John's University Cerebral Palsy List |
Date: | Fri, 19 Apr 2002 17:16:02 EDT |
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I thought the list would be interested in the following study:
Bobby
Functional status of adults with cerebral palsy and implications for
treatment of children.
Bottos M, Feliciangeli A, Sciuto L, Gericke C, Vianello A.
Dev Med Child Neurol. 2001 Aug;43(8):516-28.
Neuromotor Child Disability Centre, Azienda USL, Bologna, Italy.
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This study examined the evolution of individuals with cerebral palsy (CP)
from childhood to adulthood. Seventy-two adults with a diagnosis of CP born
between 1934 and 1980 were studied. Individuals were recruited and data
comprehensively collected using case notes and through direct assessments of
the majority of participants from three rehabilitation units in Bologna,
Padua, and Rovigo in Italy. The main findings can be summarized as follows:
contact with health and rehabilitation services was radically reduced once
individuals reached adulthood; more individuals who were integrated into
mainstream schools achieved and maintained literacy than those who had
attended special schools; in a high number of participants, motor performance
deteriorated once into adulthood. Independent walking or other forms of
supported locomotion were lost in many on reaching adulthood. Of those who
continued to walk, walking deteriorated in terms of distance. It was
concluded that even though CP has been considered as predominantly a
childhood pathological condition, the evolution of the effects of CP do not
stop at 16 or 18 years of age. For this reason, the traditional child- (or
infant-) oriented approach concentrating mainly or exclusively on the
achievement of independent walking, may not be an ideal approach to children
with CP. Instead a more independence-oriented therapeutic approach would be
appropriate.
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