Disorders of memory of motor sequences in cerebral palsied children.

In 74 children (32 boys, 42 girls) between 7 and 14 years of age with different forms of cerebral palsy (mainly spastic ones) the motor memory was tested with a sequence of movements which had to be remembered at once, after 24 hours and after 5 days. The normal levels were determined by testing 21 healthy children matched as to age as control as (10 boys, 11 girls). Each exercise was evaluated separately as follows: the movement is performed correctly in the right sequence, 2 points; the movement is performed in a wrong sequence, but in the correct group of three exercises, 1 point; the sequence of movements is entirely wrong or the child does not perform the movements at all, 0 points. Thus for each testing a child can get a maximum of 12 points and for all three testings a maximal 36 points. In 48.5% of the CP children a disorder of memory was found, more frequently in left-sided hemiparesis than in right-sided, and more frequently in paucospastic diparesis (without adductor or flexor spasms and without flexor spastic signs in the toes) than in the classical form. Thus a motor memory disorder is part of the natural history of CP.