ABSTRACT
AIMS: Young children with neurodevelopmental conditions are often limited in their ability to explore and learn from their environment. The purposes of this case series were to (1) describe the outcomes of using an alternative power mobility device with young children who had multiple, severe impairments; (2) develop power mobility training methods for use with these children; and (3) determine the feasibility of using various outcome measures. METHODS: Three children with cerebral palsy (Gross Motor Function Classification System Levels IV, V, and V) ages 17 months to 3.5 years participated in the case series. Examination included the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory-Computer Adaptive Test (PEDI-CAT) and the Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire (DMQ). An individualized, engaging power mobility training environment was created for each participant. Intervention was provided for 60 minutes per week over 12 weeks. RESULTS: All participants exhibited improvements in power mobility skills. Post-intervention PEDI-CAT scores increased in various domains for all participants. Post-intervention DMQ scores improved in Participants 1 and 2. DISCUSSION: The participants appeared to make improvements in their beginning power mobility skills. Additional research is planned to further explore the impact of power mobility training in this unique population.
Subject(s)
Cerebral Palsy/rehabilitation , Disability Evaluation , Education, Nonprofessional , Mobility Limitation , Self-Help Devices , Child, Preschool , Disabled Persons/education , Disabled Persons/rehabilitation , Equipment Design , Female , Humans , Infant , Locomotion , Male , Man-Machine Systems , Motor Skills , Outcome Assessment, Health Care , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
We examined an approach aimed at training consciously-controlled recollection, introduced by Jennings and Jacoby (2003) , for its ability to replicate and generalize. A continuous recognition task, requiring recollection to identify the occurrence of repeated items over gradually increasing lag intervals (number of intervening items between the first and second presentation of a repeated word), was given to a group of older adults twice a week for three weeks. Pre-and-post training performance was assessed on multiple measures and compared with a recognition practice and no contact control group. Recollection training proved successful; accurate identification of repeated items increased across a lag interval of 2 to 18 intervening items. Post-training gains following recollection training were found on n-back, self-ordered pointing, source discrimination and digit symbol substitution, but not with reading span or the CVLT-II. No changes were identified in the other groups. Gains from recollection training seem to transfer successfully in older adults.
