The Effect of Reciprocal Imitation Training on the Function of Upper Limbs and Motor Skills of Children with Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is one of the most common disorders affecting movement disorders and impairments of cognition, visual, language and communication. However, there is still a lack of interventional therapy which involves Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) intended to improve imitation skills of children with CP.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of reciprocal imitation training on the function of upper limbs and motor skills of children with cerebral palsy.

20 children with cerebral palsy were selected from Tavana Rehabilitation Center of Tabriz city using charter method and were divided into two groups of reciprocal imitation and control randomly. The subjects of reciprocal imitation group were trained with reciprocal imitation training and control group did not receive any training. Lincoln-Osertsky Motor Development scale was used to collect the information from subjects.

The results of covariance test indicated that reciprocal imitation training can improve the function of upper limbs and motor skills of children with cerebral palsy (P < 0.05).

Therefore, it can be concluded that reciprocal imitation training is as an effective strategy for improving the motor skills with cerebral palsy.