Participation Assessment Scales for 4 to 18-Year-Old Individuals With Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review

Objectives: Participation is defined as involvement in life situations and the ultimate outcome for individuals with disabilities. One of the most common causes of chronic disabilities that restrict individuals’ participation is cerebral palsy (CP). The main goal of rehabilitation is to empower clients’ participation in various life areas. To affect participation, assessing the outcomes in individuals with different health conditions is necessary. Accordingly, this study aims to overview the psychometric properties of participation assessment scales for 4 to 18-year-old individuals with CP. Methods: A systematic review using PRISMA guidelines was completed. The searched keywords included the following items: participation, cerebral palsy, ADL, IADL, education, play, leisure, social participation, rest/sleep, work, leisure, scale, assessment tools, activity, meaningful activity, purposeful activity, function, performance, creational activity, physical activity participation, recreational activity, self-care, mobility, and functional mobility. The inclusion criterion for articles was being published in a peer review journal from 2000 to 2020. Results: After examining the title, abstract, and full text, 22 articles were eligible to be included. Among 1482 studies, a total of 22 studies assessing the participation of children with CP in meaningful activities were included in this review.  Discussion: The psychometric properties of 8 outcome measures for 4 to 18-year-old individuals with CP were available and 5 assessment scales have the potential to be used for this population; however, the psychometric properties of these scales were unavailable

Implicit and explicit motor learning: Application to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Aims and objectives: This study aims to determine whether children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are capable of learning a motor skill both implicitly and explicitly. Methods: In the present study, 30 boys with ASD, aged 7-11 with IQ average of 81.2, were compared with 32 typical IQ- and age-matched boys on their performance on a serial reaction time task (SRTT). Children were grouped by ASD and typical children and by implicit and explicit learning groups for the SRTT. Results: Implicit motor learning occurred in both children with ASD (p = .02) and typical children (p = .01). There were no significant differences between groups (p = .39). However, explicit motor learning was only observed in typical children (p = .01) not children with ASD (p = .40). There was a significant difference between groups for explicit learning (p = .01). Discussion: The results of our study showed that implicit motor learning is not affected in children with ASD. Implications for implicit and explicit learning are applied to the CO-OP approach of motor learning with children with ASD

The Influence of Doll Therapy in Iranian Elderly: A Randomized Trial Study

Introduction: Many elderly populations feel lonely and it has a significant negative relationship to their health status. Doll therapy may seem childish and ridiculous for adults, but it can have an undeniable effect on the elderly's health. The positive impact of doll therapy has already been proven in depression and dementia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of doll therapy in agitation, aggression, and interactions of elderly people.. Methods and Materials: Sixty elderly people were selected at the Kahrizak charity foundation in Tehran. Ten different dolls (5 popular characters and 5 newborn dolls in neutral and specific genders) were presented to them. Their reaction to all dolls recorded (no reaction: 0, watch closely: 1, caring the doll: 2, communicating with the doll: 3) and each elderly chose one doll to keep it for 6 weeks. The aggression, agitation, and interactions with other elderly people and also with the nursing home staff were asked before and after a 6-week period of doll therapy from their caregivers by the Likert scale. Results: Twelve of 60 samples exited from the study because they were unwilling. Twenty elderly did not meet the inclusion criteria. After 6 weeks, 8 subjects donated their dolls to someone else. Eventually 26, people stayed in the study, and their dada were analyzed. The highest doll selection rate was for neutral gender dolls and popular dolls were almost ignored by the elderly. Paired sample T-test showed significant differences for aggression and agitation (P<0.001) and also interactions (P<0.05) Conclusion: Although the sample size after all exclusion seems to be small, we can conclude that doll therapy is not a consistent method for all elderly, but it is beneficial and can improve their relationships and reduce their aggression and agitation. More researches with larger samples are suggested. Keywords: Doll therapy, Elderly, Play therap

The Relationship Between Sensory Processing Patterns and Participation in Childhood Leisure and Play Activities: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Objectives: Sensory processing patterns can be related to children's preferences for various activities. Still, our understanding of how different sensory processing patterns are related to children's participation in leisure activities is fairly limited. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between sensory processing patterns and children's participation in leisure activities. Methods: In this systematic review, the PRISMA (The Preferred Reporting Items For Systematic Reviews And Meta-Analyses) Guidelines were followed. We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Springer, ProQuest, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Medline, OT Seeker, SID, and Healio databases using the following keywords: “Participation”, “leisure”, “play”, “sensory processing”, “sensory integration”, “sensorimotor”, “sensory”, and “children”. A total of 5040 articles were found, of which 5027 were eliminated after the review, and finally, 13 articles were included in the study based on the inclusion criteria; 6 of them entered the meta-analysis process. The meta-analysis was performed using CMA software.  Results: The meta-analysis of 6 studies illustrated a significant correlation between the energy level and desire to participate in leisure activities, the auditory-visual sensitivity and willingness to participate in leisure activities, the sensory processing patterns and the intensity of involvement in leisure activities, the general sensory processing and desire to participate in leisure activities, the sensory processing patterns and desire to participate in informal activities, the olfactory sensitivity and desire to participate in leisure activities, the auditory filtering and desire to participate in leisure activities, the sensory processing patterns and enjoyment of participation in leisure activities, and finally sensory processing patterns and desire to participate in recreational activities.  Discussion: The evidence in articles on sensory processing patterns and participation in play and leisure activities is inadequate. The only conclusion drawn from all patterns of sensory processing is the significant relationship between these patterns and the preference to participate in recreational activities (which is just one of the several leisure activities)