Motor abilities and functional academic skills of children with cerebral palsy

Abstract

This study investigated the motor abilities and functional academic skills of newlinechildren with cerebral palsy. The sample consisted of 100 children with cerebral newlinepalsy attending special schools. The tools used for collecting the data included newlineGross Motor Function Measure 88 (GMFM-88), Gross Motor Function newlineClassification System (GMFCS), Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) and newlineBehavioural Assessment Scales for Indian Children with Mental Retardation Part A newline(BASIC- MR). The study design used was survey method. The data collected were newlineanalyzed using t test, analysis of variance, Bonferroni test, Spearman s rank newlinecorrelation and stepwise multiple regression. The findings of the study revealed newlinethat children with cerebral palsy showed only poor level of functional academic newlineskills. Among the different academic skills, the writing skill was most affected in newlinethese children. The study also revealed that the gross motor and fine motor abilities newlineare correlated with the functional academic skills. Child related variables such as newlineage, level of retardation, presence of visual, speech, hearing impairments, newlineoccurrence of epileptic attacks, and behavioral problems are found to have newlinesignificant effect on functional academic skills of children with cerebral palsy. The newlineresults are discussed in detail and the implications and suggestions for future newlineresearch are also given. newlineKey words :- Cerebral palsy, Gross motor abilities, Fine motor abilities, Functional newlineacademic skills.