Prioritized strategies to improve diagnosis and early management of cerebral palsy for both Māori and non-Māori families.

Aim: To identify prioritized strategies to support improvements in early health service delivery around the diagnosis and management of cerebral palsy (CP) for both Māori and non-Māori individuals.

Method: Using a participatory approach, health care professionals and the parents of children with CP attended co-design workshops on the topic of early diagnosis and management of CP. Health design researchers facilitated two 'discovery' (sharing experiences and ideas) and two 'prototyping' (solution-focused) workshops in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Radiological outcome of reconstructive hip surgery in children with gross motor function classification system IV and V cerebral palsy.

Hip subluxation is common in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The aim of this study was to describe the radiological outcome of reconstructive hip surgery in children with CP, gross motor function classification system (GMFCS) level IV and V, and determine whether the GMFCS level plays a predictive role in outcome. This was a retrospective cohort study conducted at a tertiary-level pediatric hospital with a CP hip surveillance program.

Reported outcomes of lower limb orthopaedic surgery in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy: a mapping review.

Aim: Lower limb surgery is often performed in ambulatory children with cerebral palsy (CP) to improve walking ability. This mapping review reports on outcome measures used in the published literature to assess surgical results, determine range and frequency of use, and map each measure to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health.

Method: A mapped review of literature published between 1990 and 2011 was carried out to identify papers reporting the outcomes of lower limb orthopaedic surgery in ambulatory children with CP, aged 0 to 20 years.

How does the functional mobility scale relate to capacity-based measures of walking ability in children and youth with cerebral palsy?

This study examined the relationship between walking performance rated on the Functional Mobility Scale (FMS) and measures of walking capacity in children with cerebral palsy (CP). A total of 143 participants with spastic CP (GMFCS levels I to III) were rated on the FMS and had assessment of self-selected walking speed (WS), fast 1 minute walk test (1MWT) and six minute walk test (6MWT). For each FMS distance, children rated 6 had significantly better 6MWT than children scored 5; children rated FMS 2, 3, or 4 had lower walking capacity measures but were not clearly distinguishable from each other.

Walking drawings and walking ability in children with cerebral palsy.

Objectives: To investigate whether drawings of the self walking by children with cerebral palsy (CP) were associated with walking ability and illness perceptions.

Method: This was an exploratory study in 52 children with CP (M:F = 28:24), mean age 11.1 years (range 5-18), who were attending tertiary level outpatient clinics.

Relationship between walk tests and parental reports of walking abilities in children with cerebral palsy.

Objectives: To test the strength of association between 2 clinic-based measures of walking ability, the 1-minute walk test (1MWT) and the six-minute walk test (6MWT), and the parental report of usual walking performance, measured by the ABILOCO-Kids logit score, in children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Design: Observational study.

Setting: Tertiary level outpatient clinics.

Parent-perceived barriers to participation in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy.

Aim: To pilot the use of the Craig Hospital Inventory of Environmental Factors (CHIEF) questionnaire to ascertain information regarding barriers to participation experienced by a sample of New Zealand children with cerebral palsy.

Methods: The CHIEF questionnaire was administered to parents/caregivers of a consecutive sample of 32 children with cerebral palsy attending a paediatric tertiary clinic in Auckland. Twenty-three children walked independently, 5 used walking aides and four used a wheelchair.

The sensitivity and specificity of an activity monitor in detecting functional activities in young people with cerebral palsy.

Objective: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the Intelligent Device for Energy Expenditure and Activity (IDEEA) monitor in detecting functional activities in young people with cerebral palsy (CP).

Design: Validation study.

Setting: Two identical data collections completed 1 week apart at a gait laboratory.

Deficits in upper-limb task performance in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy as defined by 3-dimensional kinematics.

Objective: To define upper-limb movement deficits in children with hemiplegia using 3-dimensional (3-D) kinematic analysis of functional tasks.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: University gait laboratory.

The reliability and validity of assessment of sagittal plane deviations in children who have spastic diplegia.

Objective: To assess the reliability and validity of a newly described classification of sagittal plane alignment in spastic diplegic gait.

Design: Twenty split-screen videos of children with spastic diplegia, Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I to III, were viewed on 2 occasions, 6 weeks apart, by 5 raters. The sagittal plane alignments of the right and left lower limbs in gait were classified separately as true equinus, jump knee, apparent equinus, or crouch, based on the published classification.

Reliability of upper and lower limb three-dimensional kinematics in children with hemiplegia.

The repeatability of both 3D kinematic measurements of arm movement during simple upper limb tasks and lower limb movement during gait analysis was evaluated in 10 children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. All tasks were completed on two separate occasions, 1 week apart. The 3D lower limb gait analysis showed high levels of repeatability in the sagittal plane measures, with mean coefficient of multiple correlations (CMCs) greater than 0.

Intraobserver reliability of the modified Tardieu scale in the upper limb of children with hemiplegia.

This study investigated the reliability of the modified Tardieu scale in the assessment of biceps spasticity in the upper limbs of children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP). Ten children, with hemiplegic CP participated in the study: six males (mean age 9 years, SD 4 years) and four females (mean age 12 years, SD 3 years). Blinded, duplicate measures of dynamic elbow extension were performed on the hemiplegic arm at time 0 and 7 days later, using the three angular velocities described in the Tardieu scale (V1, slow; V2, speed of gravity; V3, as fast as possible).

Reliability and validity of the Observational Gait Scale in children with spastic diplegia.

The aim of this study was to establish the reliability and validity of visual gait assessment in children with spastic diplegia, who were community or household ambulators, using a modified version of the Physicians Rating Scale, known as the Observational Gait Scale (OGS). Two clinicians viewed edited split-screen video recordings of 20 children/adolescents (11 males, 9 females; mean age 12 years, range 6 to 21 years) made at the time of three-dimensional gait analysis (3-DGA). Walking ability in each child was scored at initial assessment and reassessed from the same videos three months later using the first seven sections of the OGS.