Purpose: To determine the type of visual information used by children with spastic unilateral cerebral palsy (SUCP) in order to intercept a ball and to verify whether this information was dependent on the side of the lesion. More specifically, it was examined whether the interception was controlled on the basis of a time or a distance strategy, initiating the catch when the ball is at a fixed time interval or at a fixed distance from the point of interception.
Methods: Three groups of children were included. Children with either a left sided (LHL) or a right sided lesion (RHL) and children without a lesion [typically developing (TD)] intercepted a ball from a conveyor belt. In order to intercept the ball successfully they had to walk and to reach for the ball at the interception point 4 m away.
Results: Children with LHL had a longer decision time and started their reach movement earlier. In 56% of the children with LHL a distance strategy was observed, while in the TD and the children with RHL predominantly a time strategy was found.
Conclusions: The side of the lesion influences the visual information used to initiate interceptive actions.