Impact of Early and Intensive Bimanual Stimulation on the Evolution of Bimanual Function in Infants With Clinical Findings Suggesting Unilateral Cerebral Palsy (BB-BIM)
Impact of Early and Intensive Bimanual Stimulation on the Evolution of Bimanual Function in Infants With Clinical Findings Suggesting Unilateral Cerebral Palsy (BB-BIM)
The aim of this study is to measure the impact of early bimanual stimulation in babies with clinical signs of underuse of one hand. The observation focuses on the developmental curve of hands use. The intervention is provided by the family environment and takes place in the child's familiar surroundings.
Congenital hemiplegia, often referred to as Unilateral Cerebral Palsy (UCP), is characterized by a unilateral or asymmetrical brain injury that occurs around birth and impacts the development of manual skills and motor abilities of one side of the body.
Affected children frequently develop hemiplegia with major limitations in the use of their impaired hand, resulting in poor bimanual coordination, thus impacting the performance of daily activities at home, school and in the community.
Several intensive therapy approaches currently exist, including the bimanual approach (BIM) which aims to improve the use of the affected hand as an assisting hand in daily functional activities. These approaches have long been established as effective, however, with these children reaching 90% of their potential gross motor skills around the age of 5, or even earlier in some cases, there is a growing interest in earlier approaches, well before school age. It has also long been established that during the first year of life, there is a critical time frame for hand motor development.
The investigators have thus set up an intensive bimanual stimulation program for infants showing early signs of UCP, delivered by the family environment, in the child's familiar surroundings, under the guidance of a therapist, over a period of 2 months.
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