Background The ability to sit independently is fundamental for function but delayed in infants with cerebral palsy (CP). Studies of interventions directed specifically toward sitting in infants with CP have not been reported.

Objective The purpose of this study was to compare 2 interventions for improving sitting postural control in infants with CP.

Design For this randomized longitudinal study, infants under 2 years of age and at risk for CP were recruited for intervention directed toward sitting independence.

Setting The intervention was conducted at home or at an outpatient facility.

Patients and Intervention Fifteen infants with typical development (mean age at entry=5 months, SD=0.5) were followed longitudinally as a comparison for postural variables. Thirty-five infants with delays in achieving sitting were recruited. Infants with delays were randomly assigned to receive a home program (1 time per week for 8 weeks; mean age=15.5 months, SD=7) or a perceptual-motor intervention (2 times per week for 8 weeks; mean age=14.3 months, SD=3).

Measurements The primary outcome measure was center-of-pressure (COP) data, from which linear and nonlinear variables were extracted. The Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) sitting subsection was the clinical outcome measure.

Results There was a main effect of time for the GMFM sitting subscale and for 2 of the COP variables. Interaction of group × time factors indicated significant differences between intervention groups on 2 COP measures, in favor of the group with perceptual-motor intervention.

Limitations The small number of infants limits the ability to generalize the findings.

Conclusions Although both groups made progress on the GMFM, the COP measures indicated an advantage for the group with perceptual-motor intervention. The COP measures appear sensitive for assessment of infant posture control and quantifying intervention response.

/pdf/a-comparison-of-interventions-for-children-with-cerebral-l2fk9mkuad.pdf

The senses considered as perceptual systems

A Comparison of Interventions for Children With Cerebral Palsy to Improve Sitting Postural Control: A Clinical Trial

The flexible constellation of technologies that comprise virtual environment (VE) systems provide many new opportunities for training. However, the lessons learned from decades of research in flight and driving simulation seem largely forgotten. This review recalls a set of long-term issues that will constrain the application of VE systems to training. In particular, the issues of cost effectiveness, interface usability, transfer of training, transfer theory, and training feedback are addressed. Training and research decisions that do not consider these issues are likely to result in programs and recommendations that do little to efficiently improve skills and knowledge.

Persistent issues in the application of virtual environment systems to training

This paper presents a study of the relationship between city elements, as defined by Lynch, and the spatial descriptors commonly used in space syntax research, leading to a proposed relationship between the hitherto unrelated concepts of intelligibility and imageability. The paper starts by demonstrating how each of Lynch’s five city elements (the node, path, district, edge and landmark) may be redefined using a selection of spatial notations, primarily the axial line and the isovist. Furthermore, by precisely defining the relationship between the axial line and the isovist, it can be shown that all of Lynch’s elements may be redefined using a single, coherent family of tightly-related spatial entities. A case study of Boston, circa 1950, is used to test an application of these redefinitions and the relationships between the various spatial descriptors and Lynch’s elements. In turn, this leads to a hypothesis concerning the relationship between the concepts of intelligibility and imageabilty, concepts that were previously considered to be independent. Finally, the paper concludes by building upon the relationship between intelligibility and imageabilty to conclude that this relationship provides strong evidence for an underlying cognitive basis to space syntax.

/pdf/a-reciprocal-definition-of-spatial-elements-and-spatial-1pp0rj7sb5.pdf

A reciprocal definition of spatial elements and spatial syntaxes

Prosopagnosia and visual object agnosia: A behavioral study

motions that make them perceptible toan O. Several kinds and variables of optical motions weredescribed, all of which were loosely termed "opticaltransformations," and these were illustrated in a motionpicture film (Gibson, 1955).We have recently been concerned, however, with anotherclass of events, the perception of which needs to beunderstood. When an object

The senses considered as perceptual systems

Citations

A Comparison of Interventions for Children With Cerebral Palsy to Improve Sitting Postural Control: A Clinical Trial

Persistent issues in the application of virtual environment systems to training

A reciprocal definition of spatial elements and spatial syntaxes

Prosopagnosia and visual object agnosia: A behavioral study

The change from visible to invisible: A study of optical transitlons'

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