Introduction: Cerebral palsy is often accompanied by cognitive impairment affecting attention, visuoperception, executive functions and working memory. AIMS. To analyse the effect of cognitive stimulation treatment on the cognitive capabilities in children with cerebral palsy.
Patients and methods: Our sample consisted of 15 children with cerebral palsy, with a mean age of 8.80 ± 2.51 years, who were classified with the aid of the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) on level I (n = 6), level II (n = 4), level III (n = 2) and level V (n = 3). Cognitive impairment was evaluated by means of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) and the Continuous Performance Test (CPT-II). Both the questionnaires for parents and teachers from the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Conners rating scales (CPRS-48 and CTRS-28) were administered. A cognitive stimulation programme was carried out at a rate of two hours a week for a total of eight weeks.
Results: Statistically significant differences were observed after applying the cognitive stimulation treatment in the perceptive reasoning index of the WISC-IV. No differences were obtained on the Conners' and the BRIEF scores before and after the treatment. Neither were any differences found in the results on the WISC-IV according to sex or on the GMFCS.
Conclusions: The cognitive performance of children with cerebral palsy improves after applying a cognitive rehabilitation programme.
Title: Estimulacion cognitiva en niños con paralisis cerebral.
Introduccion. La paralisis cerebral a menudo cursa con deficits cognitivos de atencion, visuopercepcion, funciones ejecutivas y memoria de trabajo. Objetivo. Analizar el efecto de un tratamiento de estimulacion cognitiva sobre las capacidades cognitivas en niños con paralisis cerebral. Pacientes y metodos. Muestra de 15 niños con paralisis cerebral, con una edad media de 8,80 ± 2,51 años, clasificados mediante el Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) en nivel I (n = 6), nivel II (n = 4), nivel III (n = 2) y nivel V (n = 3). Los deficits cognitivos se evaluaron mediante la escala de inteligencia de Wechsler para niños (WISC-IV) y el Continuous Performance Test (CPT-II). Se administraron los cuestionarios para padres y profesores del Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) y las escalas de evaluacion de Conners (CPRS-48 y CTRS-28). Se realizo un programa de estimulacion cognitiva dos horas semanales durante ocho semanas. Resultados. Se observaron diferencias estadisticamente significativas tras aplicar el tratamiento de estimulacion cognitivo en el indice de razonamiento perceptivo de la WISC-IV. No se obtuvieron diferencias antes y despues del tratamiento en las puntuaciones del Conners y del BRIEF. Tampoco se hallaron diferencias en los resultados de la WISC-IV en funcion del sexo ni en el GMFCS. Conclusion. El rendimiento cognitivo de los niños con paralisis cerebral mejora tras la aplicacion de un programa de rehabilitacion cognitiva.