Introduction: Safe and appropriate nutrition is important for child development. Children with a developmental disability often present with eating and swallowing problems. Reliable clinical assessment is essential for the process of effective management and therapeutic treatment of children with disabilities. The study aimed to evaluate inter-raterreliability of the Slovenian translation of a standardized screening tool for assessment of eating and swallowing disorders the Dysphagia Disorder Survey (DDS). Methods: After parental consensus, the children were recorded during feeding or eating an usual meal. We assessed the recordings by using the second part of the DDS. In the analysis of inter-rater reliability, we compared the assessments from three speech therapists. Results: We evaluated 30 children with developmental neurological disorder, aged 2 to 17 years, who have had difficulty in feeding and swallowing. Statistical analysis of the assessment results revealed high inter-rater reliability of the total score (ICC = 0.964) and of the majority of individual items (ICCs between 0.629 and 0.932). Conclusions: The results of our study indicate that the Slovenian translation of the DDS is a reliable tool. We believe that the instrument is appropriate for assessment of eating disorders and swallowing in children with developmental neurological disorder in clinical practice.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1842793
Introduction: Developmental coordination disorder is a condition of impaired motor coordination that results in problems performing everyday motor tasks and is often associated with secondary social, emotional, and academic difficulties. Boys are more likely to be affected. A number of intervention approaches exist for working with children with DCD, one of which focuses on the application of a cognitive paradigm grounded in theories of motor learning. In this study we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of one such program, the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP), in a Slovenian rehabilitation setting. Methods: In a prospective study during the period from 01/01/2012 to 01/10/2013, we included all children presenting with difficulty with motor coordination that had a significant impact on learning outcomes, who were not inflicted by any other known disease and had been tested using the Movement ABC and scored below the 15th percentile. Children selected up to five different activities in which they wanted to improve. The principles of CO-OP (goal, plan, do, check) were then used to guide learning and practice of these tasks. Two measures were used during observational analysis: the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) and the Performance Quality Rating Scale (PQRS). Results: Children attended an average of 9.6 CO-OP sessions. On the COPM, they demonstrated significant improvement regarding evaluation of performance and satisfaction. Results on the PQRS also significantly improved. Conclusion: The results suggest that CO-OP is an efficient approach for working with children with motor coordination difficulties. However, because the study included only a small group of children our results are just preliminary. In future research we will need to include a larger number of children with developmental coordination disorder and further evaluate their progress.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1843049
Introduction: Although cerebral palsy is not a progressive disease, contractures and spasticity are common signs of the upper motor neuron damage. One of the recent approaches to improve the function of movement in children with cerebralpalsy is automated gait training with the Lokomat. We found some data on improvement of the ranges of passive movements in the lower limbs following the Lokomat training and wanted to check what the results of our training program are. Methods: We compared the measurement results of the ranges of passive movements of children with cerebral palsy before and after a four-week program in the period from November 2011 to October 2013. Results: 24 children with cerebral palsy were included in the training program. Almost all children had reduced ranges of passive dorsal flexion of foot, 10 children had reduced ranges of passive movements in the knees and 16 children in the hips. At the follow-up after the training program we found significantly improved ranges of passive movements of all joints in the lower limbs. Conclusion: Training program on the Lokomat is an effective method for improving the ranges of passive movements of joints of the lower limbs in children with cerebral palsy.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1843305
Introduction: A chronic illness of a child and the associated disability put the child and the whole family at an increased risk for social and mental-health problems. Several risk factors and aspects of the services available to the child and the family are involved. By knowing more about the processes of care we might improve the system and thus prevent or alleviate the psychosocial difficulties of the chronically ill or disabled children and their parents. Aim: We wanted to identify the importance of several factors that could influence the evaluation of processes of care. Methods: The parents of the children who were admitted to the children´s department at our rehabilitation institute in 2010 were invited to cooperate. The Measure of Process of Care for Parents (MPOC-20) questionnaire was sent to 238 parents. Demographic and medical data were also collected. Results: 104 parents/caregivers replied upon first invitation. The studied characteristics (demographics, the number of child's impairments, the type of therapy programs attended, the number of therapy hours per week, the medical specialists consulted, the sources of information for the parents/caregivers, the family members involved) were not significantly associated with the MPOC-20 scores, except the the availability of a key worker, which was associated with the results on the Enabling&Partnership (p(0.05), Coordinated&Comprehensive Care (p(0.01) and Respectful&Supportive Care MPOC-20 scales. Conclusion: Our results highlight the importance of the key worker service delivery in the family-centred health service model. However, more complex (multivariate) analyses should be performed to better understand the studied phenomena.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1845865