Pre-school Children with Cerebral Palsy: Gross Motor Function during Intensive Training: a Case Series Study

The aim of the study was to explore changes in gross motor function in children who participated in Project Intensive Habilitation (PIH) at Sørlandet Hospital HF, Kristiansand, Norway. Material and method: Two three year old children with cerebral palsy (hemiplegia or diplegia), participated in our case series study together with their parents. The parents were interviewed three times and the children assessed six times with the Gross Motor Functional Measure (GMFM 66, a 0-100 point scale) over a five months habilitation period. Intensive training was daily directed at the main aim «walking freely», set by parents and health professionals. The training alternated between group sessions in our hospital, and at home and in kindergarten with parents and local professionals. Results: The parents described important progress in their childs ability to transfer, but the aim «to walk independently» was not achieved. Improvement in GMFM-66 total scores from first to last test was circa 4 points for both children, but as the confidence intervals were overlapping, the change might be due to measurement errors. Conclusion: The study indicates some improvement in the childrens gross motor function in connection with participation in Project Intensive Habilitation. However, we cannot know how much change would have occurred without the intensive training