Vedano Olona

This research aims to investigate the effectiveness of play-based rehabilitation as usual care for children with cerebral palsy, a condition that affects movement and posture development and often involves other challenges like epilepsy and cognitive impairments. The study will also compare two rehabilitation formats intensive care provided in hospital inpatient units and extensive care delivered in community rehabilitation centers, to see if the timing of treatment affects outcomes. Children will receive either an extensive rehabilitation program consisting of 3-hour weekly sessions for 15 weeks in outpatient settings or an intensive program with 3-hour daily sessions, 5 days a week for 3 weeks in hospital care units. Both treatments include the same total dose of therapy and focus on goals involving gross motor skills, manipulative abilities, visual, and visual-cognitive functions. Participants will be assessed at the start, immediately after treatment, and at an 8-month follow-up using measures such as the Functional Independence Measure for children WeeFIM, the Gross Motor Function Measure 88 GMFM-88, and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function for preschool children. The study involves regular monitoring to evaluate the rehabilitation impact over time and to adjust care plans as needed, with total participation lasting through the follow-up period.

Millions of children worldwide are diagnosed each year with neurodevelopmental disabilities, which include a variety of conditions such as genetic syndromes and brain injuries like cerebral palsy. These children often face challenges in communication, especially in social and interactive skills necessary for language development. This trial aims to assess whether an intervention involving parents and focusing on early social and communication skills can improve outcomes better than standard speech therapy in children aged 6 months to 5 years with neurodevelopmental disabilities. The study compares two groups one receives a parent-involved intervention called SPEAK, focusing on early socio-communicative and intersubjective skills, while the other undergoes standard speech therapy. Both interventions consist of eight weekly sessions lasting 45 minutes each over two months. The SPEAK intervention includes guided parent participation during activities like playtime and snack time, helping parents observe and support their childs social communication. Standard speech therapy targets vocalization, language understanding, and speech production without active parent involvement. Participants and their parents will undergo assessments before and after the interventions to evaluate the childs language, social, and communication development, as well as parenting behaviors through video-recorded parent-child interactions. Additional evaluations will measure early cognitive and emotional development. The study monitors session attendance and withdrawal reasons to track adherence. The goal is to understand how these interventions impact childrens development and parent-child interactions over the two-month treatment period.