The level of severity of disability may have increased among children with cerebral
palsy and therefore continued monitoring of the characteristics of children with cerebral
palsy is necessary. Cerebral palsy (CP) can be considered as a sensory-motor disorder
that results from malformations in the developing brain that disrupts the development of
the neuronal network and cortical and sub-cortical pathways. Although the motor
behaviours and postural deficits are defining features of CP, visual disorders are a main
symptom in the clinical picture of CP.
There are well sounded reasons why children with CP have difficulties to partake in
everyday activities. Neurologic pathology can affect specific aspects of postural control
including the ability to maintain stability with alignment in a specific position. Postural
control is necessary for maintaining all body segments in an upright position and to
orientate the eyes to the environment. Problems with the visual system in CP include
peripheral problems related to the anterior part of the visual system, visual problems of
central origin and cerebral visual impairment. Observations of eye movements and
postural alignment in sitting in children with CP were the focus of this study. These are
variables known to potentially influence occupational-based activities.
The aim of the study was to describe eye movements and postural alignment and to
investigate if there was a possible association between eye movements and postural
alignment in sitting in a frontal plane of children with CP, between the age of two and
ten years.
A non-experimental, quantitative approach addressed the aim. A descriptive study was
used to describe the eye movements and alignment in body segments over the base of
support against gravity. A correlation study was used to investigate the possible
association between postural alignment and eye movements in children with CP.
Following the pilot study the unstructured and structured observations were
administered to a convenience sample of children with CP attending a clinic, school or a
private practice. Fifty seven children with CP, between two and ten years of age participated in the study after meeting the pre-determined inclusion criteria. The data
collected were numbers that reflected specific measurements of the characteristics in
question and were analysed by using a grounded, observed รข clinical reasoning
approach.
The mean age of the children was 5.3 years (SD = 2.26). Discussion of results was
directed at describing eye movements and postural alignment and interpreting the
implications of those associations for clinical practice. The obtained data from the
unstructured and structured observations were statistically analysed and compared and
did produce a statistically significant positive association between eye movements and
postural alignment therefore, both the posture and the eye movements are critical to the
provision of intervention.
The study confirms the association between eye movements and postural alignment in
sitting in children with CP. This study has documented the difficulties the child with CP
has to encounter. This may facilitate the establishment of effective and appropriate
measuring instruments for occupational therapists, assessing functional vision and
postural alignment in any setting of practice.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-11052013-124558 |
| Date | 05 November 2013 |
| Creators | Scholtz, Christina Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Mrs MM Visser, Dr SM van Heerden |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-11052013-124558/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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