Evaluation of hand stereognosis level in children with spastic hemiplegia and diplegia 3-6 years old.

One of the most prevalent sensory problems in cerebral palsy is Astereognosis which has special importance in daily manual functions. the purpose of this study was to determine the level of hand stereognosis using common objects and geometric shapes in children with spastic hemiplegia and diplegia. in this cross sectional study، 20 children with cerebral palsy between 3-6 years old (9 males،11 females) were selected via nonrandomized simple sampling referd to occupational therapy centers of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. stereognosis of common objects and geometric shapes were evaluated and the data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney and Spearman statistical tests. 25% of hemiplegic children gained full score of geometric shapes stereognosis and 37% acquired full score of common objects with affected hand and 75% gained full score of both with unaffected hand. 42% of diplegic children gained full score of common objects and 25% of them gained full score of geometric shapes with right and left hand. There was no significant relationship between stereognosis score with age and sex in both groups. stereognosis was not different between right and left hands but there was significant difference of objects and shapes stereognosis between affected and unaffected hand in hemiplegic children consequetively (p=0. 032)، (p=0. 049). the result of study shows considerable defect in Stereognosis of affected hand in hemiplegic children and moderate defect in diplegic children specially in geometric shapes. this finding could be in line with natural development among these children. Keywords: stereognosis،hand،diplegia،hemiplegia.