In recent years Ferrari et al. proposed a new classification of manipulation in children with spastic hemiplegia which describes five different classes by analyzing and integrating the kinematic patterns of the hand and its functional use.

The investigators believe that this classification provides the clinician with clinically meaningful information, by identifying the useful strategies spontaneously adopted by the children during manipulation tasks.

The aim of this study is to determine the criterion validity of the new classification of the pattern of manipulation in children with spastic hemiplegia by correlating hand manipulation classes with both the scores of the Assisting Hand Assessment and the scores of the Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function.

Inclusion criteria:

• clinical and instrumental (TC or RMN) diagnosis of child hemiplegia
• age > 5 years

Exclusion criteria:

• acquired hemiplegia at the age > 3 years
• anti-spastic drug inoculations or functional surgery on the plegic UE 6 months prior to the video recordings
• severe mental retardation attested by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders IV
• pharmaco-resistant epilepsy
• behavioural disorders

We retrospectively studied children with hemiplegia and CP who are followed by the Unit for Severe Disability in the Developmental Age at the Hospital of Reggio Emilia (Italy).