A STUDY ON THE SOCIAL MATURITY OF CRIPPLED CHILDREN

Abstract

The purposes of this study is ( I ) to compare the development of social competences among four types (Paraplegia, Quadriplegia, Hemiplegia and Triplegia) of cerebral palsied children, (II) to find developmental differences in social competence between cerebral palsied children and children with poliomyelitis, and (III) to investigate individual difference in social competences among the above-mentioned crippled children. Method: The Questionaire which contained 180 items on social maturity was used. The items were grouped into the following seven aspects on "Occupation", "Locomotion", "Communication", "Socialization", "Spontaneity", "Self-control" and "Fundamental habits" (cleanliness, toilet habits, dressing, sleeping, and feeding oneself). The questionaire was filled out by 588 mothers or guardians with cerebral palsied children and 98 mothers or guardians of children with poliomyelitis who were attending 10 primary schools for crippled children in representative cities of Japan. The age of the crippled children was between 6 and 13 years. Cerebral palsied children were divided into four groups of Paraplegia (PG), Quadriplegia (QG), Hemiplegia (HG) and Triplegia (TG). Results: The result of this study was summarized as follows: (1) The Comparison of social competence between PG and QG was made. QG was greatly inferior to PG in such performances of "Occupation", "Cleanliness", "Dressing" and "Feeding oneself" as affect directly on activity of daily life, but there were little differences between both groups in "Communication", "Socialization", "Spontaneity" and "Self-control". (2) Referring to social maturity, cerebral palsied children at almost all ages were inferior to children with poliomyelitis both in social competence and in fundamental habits. In this respect, on one hand it is observed that in case of children with poliomyelitis life experience is wider and locomotion remains higher than cerebral palsied children, on the other hand, it is considered that the social development of cerebral palsied children is retarded because of severe multiple handicaps as the result of brain damage. The average SQ of cerebral palsied children was 57 and that of children with poliomyelitis was 101. The mean SQ of the above-mentioned crippled children was 64. (3) There was distinctly individual difference among crippled children in the development of social maturity as compared with normal children because of various degrees of physical involvement and the like. Individual differences among cerebral palsied children were greater than those among children with poliomyelitis.