The Effect of Occupational Therapy on Improving Fine Motor Skills in Children with Cerebral Palsy
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
Abstract
Cerebral palsy (CP) often impairs fine motor skills, limiting children’s ability to perform daily tasks and participate in age-appropriate activities. Occupational therapy (OT) is widely used to address these challenges, yet evidence on its targeted effectiveness for fine motor improvement remains essential. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of structured occupational therapy interventions on improving fine motor skills in children with CP. A quasi-experimental design was employed with 30 children aged 5-10 years diagnosed with spastic CP, divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received an eight-week, task-specific OT program focusing on grasping, hand eye coordination, and visual motor integration, conducted three times per week. The control group received standard care. Fine motor skills were assessed pre- and post-intervention using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales–2 (PDMS-2). Post-intervention analysis revealed a significant improvement in the intervention group’s fine motor scores compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Gains were most notable in grasping ability and visual–motor integration. The control group showed only minimal improvement over the same period. Targeted occupational therapy effectively enhances fine motor skills in children with CP, with positive implications for independence, daily functioning, and quality of life. These findings support the integration of structured, evidence-based OT programs into pediatric rehabilitation for CP.
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Beckung, E., & Hagberg, G. (2002). Neuroimpairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions in children with cerebral palsy. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 44(5), 309–316.
Begum, M. R., Hossain, M. A., & Sultana, S. (2019). Gross motor function classification system (GMFCS) for children with cerebral palsy. Int J Physiother Res, 7(6), 3281–3286.
Carlson, A. G., Rowe, E., & Curby, T. W. (2013). Disentangling fine motor skills’ relations to academic achievement: The relative contributions of visual-spatial integration and visual-motor coordination. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 174(5), 514–533.
Done, A., Voss, C., & Rytter, N. G. (2011). Best practice interventions: Short-term impact and long-term outcomes. Journal of Operations Management, 29(5), 500–513.
Griffiths, A., Toovey, R., Morgan, P. E., & Spittle, A. J. (2018). Psychometric properties of gross motor assessment tools for children: a systematic review. BMJ Open, 8(10), e021734.
Grydeland, M., Bergh, I. H., Bjelland, M., Lien, N., Andersen, L. F., Ommundsen, Y., Klepp, K.-I., & Anderssen, S. A. (2013). Intervention effects on physical activity: the HEIA study-a cluster randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 10(1), 17.
Hansen, T., Elholm Madsen, E., & Sørensen, A. (2016). The effect of rater training on scoring performance and scale-specific expertise amongst occupational therapists participating in a multicentre study: A single-group pre–post-test study. Disability and Rehabilitation, 38(12), 1216–1226.
Hoberman, A., Shaikh, N., Bhatnagar, S., Haralam, M. A., Kearney, D. H., Colborn, D. K., Kienholz, M. L., Wang, L., Bunker, C. H., & Keren, R. (2013). Factors that influence parental decisions to participate in clinical research: consenters vs nonconsenters. JAMA Pediatrics, 167(6), 561–566.
Jousset, N., Fanello, S., Bontoux, L., Dubus, V., Billabert, C., Vielle, B., Roquelaure, Y., Penneau-Fontbonne, D., & Richard, I. (2004). Effects of functional restoration versus 3 hours per week physical therapy: a randomized controlled study. LWW.
Kamat, N. (2013). Assessment of Dharwad rural normal children on peabody developmental motor scales, (PDMS-2). Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (India).
Ko, E. J., Sung, I. Y., Moon, H. J., Yuk, J. S., Kim, H.-S., & Lee, N. H. (2020). Effect of group-task-oriented training on gross and fine motor function, and activities of daily living in children with spastic cerebral palsy. Physical & Occupational Therapy In Pediatrics, 40(1), 18–30.
Korzeniewski, S. J., Slaughter, J., Lenski, M., Haak, P., & Paneth, N. (2018). The complex aetiology of cerebral palsy. Nature Reviews Neurology, 14(9), 528–543.
Kozlova, A. (2015). How design can contribute to children’s neurological rehabilitation? Case study: Co-designing paediatric rehabilitation programs for learning disabilities.
Lin, L.-Y., Tu, Y.-F., Yu, W.-H., Ho, M.-H., & Wu, P.-M. (2020). Investigation of fine motor performance in children younger than 36-month-old using PDMS-2 and Bayley-III. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 17(5), 746–760.
Liu, T., Hoffmann, C., & Hamilton, M. (2017). Motor skill performance by low SES preschool and typically developing children on the PDMS-2. Early Childhood Education Journal, 45(1), 53–60.
Loeb, S., Dynarski, S., McFarland, D., Morris, P., Reardon, S., & Reber, S. (2017). Descriptive Analysis in Education: A Guide for Researchers. NCEE 2017-4023. National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.
Mastos, M., Miller, K., Eliasson, A.-C., & Imms, C. (2007). Goal-directed training: linking theories of treatment to clinical practice for improved functional activities in daily life. Clinical Rehabilitation, 21(1), 47–55.
Nickels, K. C., Zaccariello, M. J., Hamiwka, L. D., & Wirrell, E. C. (2016). Cognitive and neurodevelopmental comorbidities in paediatric epilepsy. Nature Reviews Neurology, 12(8), 465–476.
Poudel, K. (2020). Development of cancer education program focusing on adolescent health in Nepal. 北海道大学.
Sadowska, M., Sarecka-Hujar, B., & Kopyta, I. (2020). Cerebral palsy: current opinions on definition, epidemiology, risk factors, classification and treatment options. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 1505–1518.
Soden, Z. (2020). Daily living skills. In Educating young children with additional needs (pp. 117–139). Routledge.
Suggate, S., Stoeger, H., & Pufke, E. (2017). Relations between playing activities and fine motor development. Early Child Development and Care, 187(8), 1297–1310.
Tomazin, R. (2019). Task Specificity and Functional Outcome: What is best for Post-Stroke Rehabilitation?
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.