Pediatric Cerebral Palsy and Activities of Daily Living: Rapid Systematic Review

Abstract

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a common motor disability seen in children who often receive occupational therapy (OT) services. Because of this, there is an increased need for research on new clinical, group, and home-based OT interventions. OT practitioners play a critical role in providing developmental interventions to improve upper extremity function, balance, and motor processing for activities of daily living (ADLs), including self-care tasks and functional mobility. In order to assist OTs in making informed decisions regarding developmental interventions to improve performance, participation, and independence in ADLs for children aged zero to eighteen with CP, a rapid systematic review (RSR) was completed and includes the best available evidence within the reviewed literature. The findings of this review support functional training, education, technology, and supplemental modalities as interventions to improve performance in ADLs of children with CP. Overall, this review works to provide leading evidence supporting the use of various interventions in OT sessions.