NYMC Faculty Publications

Responsiveness of the Seated Postural & Reaching Control Test in Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Preliminary Study

DOI

10.1080/01942638.2025.2498356

Journal Title

Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics

First Page

612

Last Page

627

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Department

Rehabilitation Sciences

Keywords

Assessment, cerebral palsy, pediatrics, posture, reaching, responsiveness, sitting

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

Aims: To examine the responsiveness of the Seated Postural & Reaching Control (SP&R-co) test in children with cerebral palsy (CP) classified at levels III to V on the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS). Methods: Eleven children received a motor learning-based intervention. Expert and blinded raters scored pre- and post-intervention SP&R-co test videos. Responsiveness was measured with paired t-tests, and effect sizes with Cohen’s d. Minimum Clinically Important Differences (MCIDs) were estimated for SP&R-co overall and dimension scores. Results: The SP&R-co test was responsive to group improvement in sitting-related postural and reaching control (SP&R-co overall = 48.9 points, p < 0.001). It captured increases in the active (change = 2.4 points, p = 0.040), proactive: bimanual (change = 10.5 points, p = 0.001), proactive: unimanual (change = 19.8 points, p < 0.001), and reactive (change = 15.3 points, p = 0.016) dimensions. Most children showed overall score improvements exceeding the MCID value, whereas clinical improvements in dimension scores varied across children with different GMFCS levels. Conclusions: This preliminary study shows that the SP&R-co test is responsive to clinical changes in postural and reaching control strategies in children with CP who can follow test directions and are classified as GMFCS levels III-V.

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