Research Review on CIMT and Bimanual Therapy for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Research Review on CIMT and Bimanual Therapy for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Pediatric Physical Therapy published a systematic review comparing modified constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) and intensive bimanual therapy in upper limb function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy.  After searching 4 electronic databases from 2009-2015, eight articles met the inclusion criteria with a total of 221 participants who received either intensive bimanual therapy or modified CIMT.

The results indicated the following:

• both intensive bimanual therapy and modified CIMT improved quality of unimanual movement, bimanual capacity, and movement efficiency.
• a weak, specific recommendation for intensive bimanual therapy in improving movement quality
• a specific but weak recommendation favoring intensive bimanual therapy to improve the child’s performance on parent-reported outcomes.

Reference:  Klepper, S. E., Krasinski, D. C., Gilb, M. C., & Khalil, N. (2017). Comparing Unimanual and Bimanual Training in Upper Extremity Function in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy. Pediatric Physical Therapy, 29(4), 288-306.

Read more about unilateral cerebral palsy:

Motor Learning in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

Goal-Directed OT Programs for Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

Tactile Function of Children with Cerebral Palsy

CIMT, Bimanual Therapy, and OT Home Programs

Therapeutic Play Activities for Children digital download includes 100 play activity pages and 12 tip sheets. The play activities encourage the development of fine motor skills, bimanual skills, rolling, crawling, tall kneeling, standing balance and cruising with a strong focus on children with cerebral palsy.  FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION.

 

 

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Beanbag Alphabet Fun – Gross Motor and Body Awareness Activity

Beanbag Alphabet Fun:  Beanbags are a wonderful tool to encourage physical activity, body awareness, motor planning and coordination skills in children.  They are inexpensive or you can even make them yourself with socks and some rice.  So grab a beanbag for each child and try moving through the alphabet with your beanbag.  You can download this as a one page handout below.

A:  Put the beanbag on your ARM.

B:  Put the beanbag on your BACK.

C:  CATCH the beanbag in the air.

D: Put the beanbag DOWN on the floor.

E:  Put the beanbag on your EAR.

F:  Put the beanbag on your FOOT.

G:  GALLOP with your beanbag.

H:  Put the beanbag on your HEAD.

I:  Walk IN a circle around your beanbag.

J:  JUMP with your beanbag.

K: KICK your beanbag.

L:  LEAP over your beanbag.

M:  MARCH in a circle with your beanbag.

N:  Put the beanbag on your NOSE.

O:  Jump OVER your beanbag.

P:  Put the beanbag on your PALM.

Q:  QUICKLY toss your beanbag up.

R:  RUN in place with your beanbag.

S:  Put the beanbag on your SHOULDER.

T:  TWIRL in a circle with your beanbag.

U:  Put the beanbag UNDER your foot.

V:  Hold the beanbag VERY high up.

W:  WALK backwards with your beanbag.

X:  Slide your beanbag up your leg and pretend to take an X-RAY.

Y:  YELL the word beanbag.

Z:  ZOOM around the room with your beanbag.

Looking for more beanbag activities?  Check out 50 Sensory Motor Activities for Kids!  This ebook includes an whole section on games to play with beanbags.

Need more alphabet movement and learning activities?  Check out Sensory Motor Group Activities A to Z and The ABC’s of Movement®- Combine Movement with Literacy.

 

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