A high percentage of children with cerebral palsy (CP) have difficulty keeping up with the handwriting demands at school. Previous studies have addressed the effects of proper sitting and writing tool on writing performance, but less on body biomechanics. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of lower body stabilization and pencil…

Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) and spastic diplegia (SD) patients share a strong clinical resemblance. Thus, HSP patients are frequently misdiagnosed with a mild form of SD. Clinical gait analysis (CGA) has been highlighted as a possible tool to support the differential diagnosis of HSP and SD. Previous analysis has focused on the lower-body…

In order to identify optimal rehabilitation strategies for spinal cord injury (SCI) participants, assessment of impaired walking is required to detect, monitor and quantify movement disorders. In the proposed assessment, ten healthy and seven SCI participants were recruited to perform an over-ground walking test at slow walking speeds. SCI…

The clinical evaluation of an infant with motor delay, muscle weakness, and/or hypotonia would improve considerably if muscle strength could be measured objectively and normal reference values were available. The authors developed a method to measure muscle strength in infants and tested 81 typically developing infants, 6-36 months of age, and 17…

This study aimed to quantitatively characterize the main foot-ground contact parameters during static upright standing and to assess foot evolution with increasing age in young individuals affected by Down syndrome (DS). To this end, 99 children with DS of mean age 9.7 (1.7) were tested using a pressure sensitive mat, and the raw data were…

The aims of this study were to investigate the nature and extent of upper limb deformities via the use of various classifications, and to analyze the relationship between upper limb deformities and gross motor or upper limb functionality levels. Upper extremity data were collected from 234 children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) who were…

A recent randomized controlled trial indicated that modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy followed by Bimanual Training (mCIMT-BiT) is an effective intervention to improve spontaneous use of the affected upper limb in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy (CP). The present study aimed to investigate how the above-mentioned…

The goal of this work is to analyze postural control in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) participants in time and frequency domain. This study considered a pathological group composed by 22 EDS participants performing a postural test consisting in maintaining standing position over a force platform for 30 s in two conditions: open eyes (OE) and closed…

Children with a clinical description of cerebral palsy (CP) commonly experience cognitive and sensory difficulties that co-occur with motor impairment, and for some children this can include impairments in social communication. While research has begun to examine theory of mind abilities in children with CP, relatively little is known about social…

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a common childhood disorder characterized by motor disability. Children with CP are at risk of developing significant respiratory problems associated with insufficient respiratory muscle strength. It is crucial to identify important factors which are associated with the limitations in daily living function in such children.…

Many persons with developmental and physical disabilities experience drooling (i.e., loss of saliva from the mouth). Technology was recently developed to help two of these persons reduce the negative effects of drooling by increasing mouth-wiping responses. This study upgraded our initial approach and tested it with the two persons who we…

The present study aims to investigate and compare the behavioral performance and event-related potentials (ERPs) measures in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and typically developing (TD) children when performing the visuospatial attention task with reflexive orienting. Thirty children with DCD and 30 TD children were…

Post-coma persons in an apparent condition of vegetative state and pervasive motor impairment pose serious problems in terms of assessment and intervention options. A technology-based learning assessment procedure might serve for them as a diagnostic supplement with possible implications for rehabilitation intervention. The learning assessment…

In addition to hypotonia and relative sarcopenia, patients with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) show reduced spontaneous physical activity and gait disorders. Scant evidence exists that daily muscle training increases their lean mass and physical activity levels. Whether adequate long-term physical training is feasible and effective in improving…

The main goal of this research was to establish the prevalence, form of manifestation, level and kind of motor skill disorders in three area of motor development functioning: neuromaturation, coordination and balance. The sample included 1165 children, between 6.5 and 11 years of age. The protocol was constructed and contained tests for the…