ABSTRACT

Objective : Postural control and visual perception are the basic functions for activities of daily living. Thus, the recovery of these abilities is a therapeutic goal for children with cerebral palsy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of an eye-movement training program on postural control and visual perception of children with spastic cerebral palsy. Methods : From May 1st, 2010 to August 31st, 2010, 10 children with spastic cerebral palsy visiting the“ P” rehabilitation center of Busan participated in this study (age range, 4-8 years). An eye-movement training program with conventional occupational therapy was given to the experimental group, while conventional occupational therapy only was given to a control group. The training program consists of 4 types of eyemovements; saccadic, pursuit, vestibulo-ocular, and vergence movements. The 40-min training sessions carried out three times a week for 8 weeks. Gross Motor Functional Measure (GMFM), Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS), and Pediatric Reaching Test (PRT) were used for an evaluation of postural control ability, and the Korean-Developmental Test of Visual Perception (K-DTVP) was given for visual perception. All tests were performed before and after the 8-week program Results : While the experimental group revealed a statistically significant difference between pre-and postprogram scores for all tests except visual closure of K-DTVP (p<.05), there were some differences for only PRT, eye-hand coordination, and spatial relations of K-DTVP in the control group. Compared to the control group, the trained children showed a significant improvement in both postural control and visual perception (p<.05). Conclusion : This results show that an eye movement training program is effective for an improvement in postural control and visual perception of children with spastic cerebral palsy