DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY (THE SECOND REPORT)

LONG-TERM FUNCTIONAL PROGNOSIS OF CHILDREN

Abstract

A study was carried out retrospectively to find out the developmental sequence of children with cerebral palsy. Data were collected from 70 CP children in our centers, whose motor age of upper and lower limbs had been recorded for over ten years and 24 CP children whose cognitive-adaptive abilities had been assessed for over one year using the revised K's Developmental Test.
The functional development of all the limbs in terms of motor age continued until about 15 years of age, though there were many cases in which the limb function deteriorated thereafter. The motor age of lower limb was higher than 9 months at five or six years old for children to be able to ambulate without support until fifteen years old. There existed also exception that motor age was 14 months at six years old for one child who could not move at all in the center without help because of the poor co-ordination of balance with progressive joint contracture. The motor age of upper limb was higher than 18 months at five years old and higher than 25 moms at ten years old for CP children to be indepedent in the most of activities of daily living.
The developmental quotient of their cognitive-adaptive abilities deteriorated gradually until about ten years of age. It was sometimes difficult to predict precisely their functional prognosis during early childhood from motor age tests and the revised K's Developmental Test. It was however important to maintain the function that had already been gained.