ASSESSING VISUAL PERCEPTION IN CHILDREN WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF CEREBRAL PALSY

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cerebral palsy is a condition of neurodevelopmental disabilities that affects movement and often occurs with deficits in visual perception. This paper explores how children with several types of cerebral palsy—spastic, dyskinetic, and ataxic—were evaluated using the Barry Visual-Motor Integration Test and its three subtests regarding visual perception, motor coordination, and combined visuomotor integration.

OBJECTIVE: To determine assessing visual perception in children with several types of cerebral Palsy.

METHODOLOGY: The study was cross-sectional in design and conducted over a period of six months among 150 children aged 3 to 15 years at PSRD School and Children's Hospital, Lahore. Structured, purposive sampling ensured a representative cohort for all CP subtypes, including children with varying degrees of motor impairment.

RESULTS: The results indicate a variety of visual perception problems across all types of CP. Spastic CP manifested in the loss of depth perception and spatial orientation, seriously impairing the daily abilities. In the case of dyskinetic CP, visuomotor integration was impeded by involuntary movements, while object tracking and spatial awareness were diminished in the case of ataxic CP. The varying degrees of these deficits appear in various VMI indexes: spastic CP was measured at a mean value 80.03, ataxic at 77.23, and dyskinesia at 82.31. Cognitive performance also varied in the study, with individuals having dyskinetic CP showing slightly better results. Therefore, the variability of results indicates the complex interplay of motor, visual, and cognitive impairments in CP.

CONCLUSION: It is concluded that visual perception deficits have a significant impact on functional and social outcomes in children with CP. The study recommends the widespread use of individualized rehabilitation plans, improved diagnostic tools such as the Visual Function Classification System (VFCS), and virtual reality-based interventions. Future studies should aim to be more longitudinal, thus allowing them to monitor long-term consequences and address the least understood subtypes like ataxic and dyskinetic CP so that they may better direct treatment modalities for enhancing quality of life of a child with CP.

KEY TERMS:  Visual Perception, Spastic, Dyskinetic and Ataxic Cerebral Palsy.