Abstract:

This article deals with the development of motor skills by children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy diagnosis with a focus on younger school age using special pedagogical approaches with elements of occupational therapy. Cerebral palsy is defined as a neurodevelopmental non-progressive impairment of the motor development of a child that results from prenatal, perinatal or early postnatal damage to the developing brain. Ischemic damage of the central nervous system is considered to be the main cause of cerebral palsy. Recent studies show that there is an increase in the number of children diagnosed with cerebral palsy, from 1-2 children per 1 000 births in the 1960s to 2-3 children per 1 000 births currently. The reason for this increase is the improvement of neonatology care, low birth weight and gestational age of children that can be saved in today's medicine. cerebral palsy is present in several forms, namely spastic (diparetic, hemiparetic and quadruplegic) and dystonic-dyskinetic, mixed and atactic forms. In addition to the classic symptoms, such as motor disability, we often encounter cognitive deficits, impaired communication skills and very often the associated diagnosis of epilepsy. The aim of our research was to determine whether a 6-month intervention will improve motor skills in a client with hemiparetic cerebral palsy, using a diagnostic tool - Movement Assessment Battery for Children - Second Edition, which evaluates three main functional areas of motor skills (fine motor skills - manual skills, gross motor skills and static and dynamic equilibrium). The purpose of this measurement by children is to identify and describe motor problems related to everyday activities. The focus is on the difference between an individual's motor skills level and motor milestones due to their age category. Attention is focused on the success of integration of individual movements to accomplish common activities. The presented results we obtained using a statistical method called the case study. In this case, we processed the case report of the proband with the subsequent presentation of the test results. The testing was focused on the data of the BalanceTutor, which provided us with relevant data on the progress of the improvement in the selected proband and the difference between the results of the initial and final examination by the Movement Assessment Battery for Children - Second Edition. The research itself took half a year (45 minutes of intervention twice a week). During this time we focused on the development of individual components of motor skills using sensoric integration and BalanceTutor. Within the intervention, we also monitored the change in proband behavior towards physical activities and the positive impact of improving motor skills on success in daily activities and school success. Finally, we point out that regular activation by means of pre-established educational and rehabilitation procedures has led to an improvement in the monitored areas for the selected proband.

Keywords:

Intervention, motor skills, cerebral palsy, special pedagogy, comprehensive rehabilitation.