Moving Beyond the Affected Arm: Examining Bilateral Movements and Visuospatial Attention in Children with Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy

Part of the "Action Club: Interactive Seminars in Motor Control and Coordination" series

Rehabilitation for children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy is commonly focused on reaching and grasping with the more afected arm. Impairments in bilateral movements and visuospatial attention may also contribute to functional limitations, though traditional clinical assessments and interventions do not target these impairments. In this talk, I will share results from robotic assessments demonstrating deficits in bilateral movements and visuospatial attention, and how performance changes with an increased cognitive load. I will also discuss ongoing work to examine the role of visuospatial attention during unilateral and bilateral tasks. Lastly, I will present work using video-based analysis to facilitate and complement clinical assessments of bilateral arm use in children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy.