Relationship between executive functioning and behaviour in children with cerebral palsy

Introduction. Cerebral palsy is defined as a group of developmental disorders of movement and posture that causes social and cognitive deficits, emotional, and behavior disturbances. Aim. To study the relationship between executive functioning and behavior in children with cerebral palsy from the answers given by parents and teachers on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and on the System Assessment Adaptive Behavior (ABAS-II). Patients and methods. The sample consisted on 46 children with CP with a mean age of 10.26 +/- 2.95 years. Forty-four of the 46 children were distributed in Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) into level I (n = 16), level II (n = 3), level III (n = 11), level IV (n = 10) and level V (n = 4). Results. The results showed a relationship between BRIEF and ABAS-II. Furthermore, discrepancies between the responses from parents and teachers, both in the ABAS-II and in the BRIEF, were obtained. Conclusions. We found a significant relationship between executive functioning in children with cerebral palsy and adaptive behavior. We found discrepancies in the answers given by parents and teachers. Finally, the data showed that the higher motor impairment increases difficulties at home.