Safety in road crossing of children with cerebral palsy.
OBJECTIVE
Children with cerebral palsy (CP) are regularly confronted with physical constraints during locomotion. Because abnormalities in motor control are often related to perceptual deficits, the aim of this study was to find out whether children with CP were able to walk across a road as safely as their non-handicapped peers.


METHODS
Ten children with CP and 10 non-handicapped children aged 4-14 y were asked to cross a simulated road if they felt the situation was safe.


RESULTS
With respect to safety and accuracy of crossings, the behaviour of children with CP was comparable with that of non-handicapped children. However, a closer examination of children's individual crossing behaviour showed considerable differences within the CP group. In contrast to children with damage to the left hemisphere, children with damage to the right hemisphere made unsafe decisions and did not compensate for them by increasing walking speed.


CONCLUSIONS
The differences in unsafe behaviour and in the ability to compensate for it within the group of children with CP might be related to damage to specific regions of the brain that are involved in the processing of spatial or temporal information.
te
Velde A F
VA
Perceptual Motor Control: Development, Learning and Performance, Institute for Fundamental and Clinical Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. arenda.tevelde@fbw.vu.nl
Savelsbergh
G J P
GJ
Barela
J A
JA
van der Kamp
J
J
D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012449:Safety; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016138:Walking