Activities of daily living in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy: a cross-sectional evaluation using the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills

Upper limb impairment can affect the ability to perform and participate in activities of daily living. The level of activity and participation limitation in the home environment for children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP) is poorly understood. A greater understanding of these limitations could be used to provide targeted and appropriate intervention programmes. Level of activity and participation limitation were investigated, with the use of the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) in a representative sample of 54 South Australian children (31 males, 23 females) with hemiplegic CP, aged 3 to 12 years (mean age 7y 4mo [SD 2y 5mo]). Two AMPS tasks that were familiar to the child were performed in the home under the supervision of a trained occupational therapist. Findings suggested that younger children (3-8y) performed significantly better than older children (9-12y) for motor skill ability (0.46 vs 0.09,P=0.041) but not for process skill ability (-0.25 vs -0.28,p=0.885). Functional performance for the sample was below that of age-matched normative data. Motor performance in activities of daily living as detected by the AMPS seemed to worsen with age in children with hemiplegic CP. Further investigation into what can influence this outcome is required.