Spatial Attention Disregard in Children With Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

Children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP) demonstrate spatial attention disregard, but the rehabilitation approach to CP is traditionally motor oriented.To explore spatial attention disregard in children with hemiplegic CP and its relationship to their motor performance in daily activities.Cross-sectional study.Community.Twenty-five children with hemiplegic CP and 25 age-matched typically developing children.For spatial attention performance, the Random Visual Stimuli Detection Task; for developmental disregard, the Observatory Test of Capacity, Performance, and Developmental Disregard; and for motor performance, the Melbourne Assessment 2.Children with hemiplegic CP evidenced spatial attention disregard on their more affected sides, and this phenomenon was correlated with developmental disregard.Children with hemiplegic CP demonstrate developmental disregard in both the motor and the visual-spatial attention domains. Including evaluation of and intervention for visual-spatial attention for children with hemiplegic CP in the traditionally motor-oriented rehabilitation approach is recommended.This research provides evidence that children with hemiplegic CP demonstrate disregard in the domain of visual-spatial attention. The findings suggest that evaluation of and intervention for visual-spatial attention should be included in CP rehabilitation in addition to the traditionally motor-oriented approach.