Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Growth and Development Disorder in Pediatrics

The study was conducted to examine the difference of body scaled information that determines reaching strategy between hemiplegic cerebral palsy children and children with typical development. Twenty hemiplegic cerebral palsy children aged from 4 to 6 years and fifty age-matched normal developing children participated in the study. Children were instructed to reach and grasp different cube sizes represented in ten pairs. Assessment was divided into non instructed trial and forced instructed trial. In each trial every cube was reached and grasped three times so a total of sixty trials were collected from each child. All reaching trials were recorded using two cameras placed on right and left sides of the child. The ratio between each cube size and the maximal distance between index finger and thumb was calculated to determine the dimensionless ratio. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean critical ratio for both hands in normal children (1.32 for preferred hand/1.37 for non - preferred hand) while there was significant difference between paretic and non-paretic hands (1.89 and 1.36 respectively). The mean critical ratio of preferred hand in normal group was statistically significant higher than that of non-paretic hand in hemiplegic children, but there is no significant difference between non-preferred hand and paretic hand

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