Sensory systems processing in children with spastic cerebral palsy: a pilot study

Abstract

The study of the sensory aspect alongside the motor aspect in children with spastic cerebral palsy is critical. Knowledge may help improve intervention, children’s quality of life, activity, and participation. The study aims to analyze the sensory systems processing in children with spastic cerebral palsy classified by Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) as levels I, II, and III using Child Sensory Profile 2 (CSP-2). Caregivers of children with spastic cerebral palsy aged 6–9 years (n = 20) completed the CSP-2. Children with severe comorbidities besides cerebral palsy (i.e., diabetes, myopathy, neuropathy, and uncontrolled epilepsy), autism, burn injuries, hearing or vision loss were excluded. All twenty participating children showed sensory processing difficulties in at least one of the sensory sections. With 14 out of 20 showing abnormalities in more than one section, the majority showed problems in the body position section, followed by the movement section. There was a significant difference between raw scores means of children with unilateral and bilateral SCP at the “body position” section, unlike the rest of the other sections. Children with spastic cerebral palsy (GMFCS levels I, II, and III) show sensory systems processing difficulties compared to normative data, especially at vestibular and proprioceptive processing.