title: Spontaneous improvement in oculomotor function of children with cerebral palsy.
abstract: Eye movements are essential to get a clear vision of moving objects. In the present study, we assessed quantitatively the oculomotor deficits of children with cerebral palsy (CP). We recorded eye movements of 51 children with cerebral palsy (aged 5-16 years) with relatively mild motor impairment and compared their performance with age-matched control and premature children. Overall eye movements of children with CP are unexpectedly close to those of controls even though some oculomotor parameters are biased by the side of hemiplegia. Importantly, the difference in performance between children with CP and controls decreases with age, demonstrating that the oculomotor function of children with CP develops as fast as or even faster than controls for some visual tracking parameters. That is, oculomotor function spontaneously improves over the course of childhood. This evolution highlights the ability of lesioned brain of children with CP to compensate for impaired motor function beyond what would be achieved by normal development on its own.
authors.affiliation: ICTEAM, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: caroline.ego@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ego
authors.affiliation: ICTEAM, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: Jean-Jacques.Orban@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Orban de Xivry
authors.affiliation: Neuropediatric Department, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium; Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: marie-cecile.nassogne@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: Marie-Cécile
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Nassogne
authors.affiliation: Ophthalmology Department, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium; Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: demet.yuksel@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: Demet
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yüksel
authors.affiliation: ICTEAM, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: philippe.lefevre@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lefèvre
keywords: Cerebral palsy; Eye movements; Smooth pursuit