Assistive devices and cerebral palsy: the use of assistive devices at school by children with cerebral palsy

Abstract

Background: Although the importance of providing disabled children with assistive devices has always been highlighted, most studies in the field of assistive device research seek the participation of adult users or adult carers. Accordingly, the opinions of young users themselves seem to be overlooked. To start to address the gap, this study aimed to understand the children's perspectives regarding device use in school and to explore the factors related to their device utilization in this setting.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were adopted as the main data collection instrument. A total of 44 participants were involved, including 15 Taiwanese children with cerebral palsy, aged between 8 and 15 years, 15 mothers and 14 teachers.

Results: The interview results show a high frequency of device use in school which can be attributed to children's willingness, teachers' attitudes, mothers' support, physical environmental factors and device-related features.

Conclusions: The findings not only demonstrate the significance of child-environment interaction but also provide evidence that children's views may be different from those of adults because they are at a different developmental stage and act out different roles in their environment.