On Track: Monitoring Development of Children With Cerebral Palsy or Gross Motor Delay

Trained therapist assessors will measure the primary and secondary impairments (i.e.,
balance, range of motion limitations, and strength) on 5 occasions (6-months apart over 2
years). Parents will complete questionnaires to track changes in the child's endurance,
health conditions, and participation in self-care and recreation activities, at the same data
collection points. The researchers will use these 5 data collection points to develop
reference percentiles and will present the data so that therapists can assist families to
determine if children with CP are developing as expected, better than expected, or more
poorly than expected, depending on their functional ability levels.

The researchers will create longitudinal developmental curves for impairments, health
conditions, and participation variables by estimating the average pattern of change,
important individual variations in the pattern of change between children, and the degree of
consistency over time within children. Establishment of longitudinal developmental curves
will provide easily understood and useful tools for families and service providers to discuss
questions about how well their children are doing in relationship to other children with CP
of similar functional ability levels. The researchers will then utilize service data
collected from parents and children's progress on the longitudinal developmental curves to
develop recommendations for rehabilitation service provision for children with CP across
functional ability levels. Having this information should assist with collaborative
decision-making among family members and service providers that efficiently utilizes
rehabilitation services to meet families' goals.

An additional sub-study is to collect direct physical activity measurements from a sub-set of
the children in the larger study. These data will be examined in relationship to other
measures of endurance and participation.

Inclusion Criteria:

Families with a child who has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy or delayed motor development
with muscle stiffness and difficulties with balance and moving.

Certain geographical areas of Canada and the US.

Exclusion Criteria:

Children will be excluded if they have: 1) Diagnosis other than cerebral palsy (such as
autism, Down syndrome, spinal cord injury, acute head injury, muscle disorder,
developmental syndrome, genetic disorder); 2) Gross motor delay without associated problems
with muscle tone, balance, and active movement; 3) are wards of the state; and 4) Families
who do not speak English, French, or Spanish will not be eligible to participate in this
study.