title: Timing responses of children with spina bifida having varying ambulatory abilities.
abstract: The authors investigated the timing responses of upper extremities to light and sound stimuli of 24 ambulatory, household-only ambulatory, and nonambulatory children with spina bifida. Using a Lafayette reaction and movement timer, each subject performed four timing tasks: (a) simple reaction time, (b) choice reaction time, (c) simple movement time, and (d) choice movement time. A 2 x 3 x 4 analysis of variance with repeated measures indicated that the ambulatory spina bifida children performed all timing tasks faster and more accurately than the household-only ambulatory and nonambulatory children. In addition, the household-only ambulatory group performed the timing tasks faster and more accurately than the nonambulatory group. Therefore, different perceptual-motor processing abilities are inferred for children with spina bifida who ambulate with different ability. For maximum benefit, an individualized educational approach should be used to improve psychomotor abilities of spina bifida children who have differing levels of ambulation.
authors.affiliation: University of Toledo, OH 43606-3390.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Evaggelinou
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Drowatzky
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion; D008297:Male; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D016135:Spinal Dysraphism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*