Purpose The Segmental Assessment of Trunk Control (SATCo) provides a systematic method of assessing discrete levels of trunk control in children with motor disabilities. This study refined the assessment method and examined reliability and validity of the SATCo. Methods After refining guidelines, 102 video recordings of the SATCo were made on 8 infants with typical development followed longitudinally from 3–9 months of age and 24 children with neuromotor disability mean age 10 yr 4 mo. Eight researchers independently scored recordings. Results ICC values for inter-rater and intra- reliability were > .84 and >.98 across all data sets and all aspects of control. Tests of concurrent validity with the Alberta Infant Motor Scales resulted in coefficients ranging from .86 to .88. Conclusion The SATCo is a reliable and valid measure allowing clinicians greater specificity in assessing trunk control.

Aim Improvement of gross motor function and mobility are primary goals of physical therapy in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between segmental control of the trunk and the corresponding gross motor function in children with CP. Method This retrospective cross‐sectional study was based on 92 consecutive referrals of children with CP in Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels I to V, 39 females, 53 males (median age 4y [range 1–14y]), and 77, 12, and 3 with spastic, dyskinetic, and ataxic CP respectively. The participants were tested using the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM), the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), and the Segmental Assessment of Trunk Control (SATCo). Results Linear regression analysis showed a positive relationship between the segmental level of trunk control and age, with both gross motor function and mobility. Segmental trunk control measured using the SATCo could explain between 38% and 40% of variation in GMFM and between 32% and 37% of variation in PEDI. Interpretation This study suggests a strong association between segmental trunk postural control and gross motor function and mobility with significant clinical implications for the treatment of children with CP.

The authors examined the interaction between the development of postural control and the development of the executive function of attention in 13 children and 6 adults in dual-task conditions. Participants performed an attentionally demanding cognitive task and a postural task simultaneously. The authors equalized the attentional load of the cognitive task across age groups. Comparative changes in the center of pressure in dual-and single-task conditions indicated that dual tasks interfered with postural performance in the wide stance (WS) and the modified Romberg stance (RS). Children at 4-6 years of age (but not children at ages 7-12 years of age or adults) experienced postural control interference in both stance positions, but interference was greater in the RS (p = .018). For all participants, cognitive task performance in RS was unchanged from that in WS. The knowledge gained from the results of this study will contribute to the design and implementation of academic and preacademic programming for young children. Their performance of an intentionally demanding cognitive task would be enhanced by the provision of appropriately sized desks and chairs or their use of an alternate, less demanding position. Keywords development; dual-task; executive function of attention; postural control In academic settings, younger children have often been found to have difficulties sustaining attention to the subjects being taught. Educators commonly see frequent readjustment of posture and fidgeting while sitting at a desk or standing in line in children with attentional problems. According to the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), a manual used by physicians and mental health providers for the diagnosis of psychological disorders, those behaviors could be a sign of deficits in attention. However, multiple factors may contribute to attentional performance in the academic setting. For example, when children are performing a motor task (standing, walking, or reaching for an object) while also performing a cognitive task, the attentional requirements of the motor task may compete for processing resources within the limited attentional capacity of the child, causing the child to perform less efficiently on both the motor and cognitive tasks. Therefore, it is important to understand the factors competing for attentional resources during children's performance of the different tasks so that educators can create an age-appropriate academic environment that is most conducive to learning.For our purpose in this study, we define the term attention as a reservoir of processing resources on the basis of the limited capacity model of Kahneman (1973). When an individual performs two attentionally demanding tasks simultaneously, competition for processing resources may occur. The interference may lead to deterioration in the performance of one or both tasks (Neumann, 1984;Wickens, 1989).Postural control was traditionally considered to be automatic ...

In this paper, we demonstrate that when a peripheral object is foveated by a sequence of multiple saccades, the initial saccade in the sequence is initiated markedly faster than a single accurate saccade to the same object. We suggest that multiple saccades represent a more automatic form of oculomotor planning that may be the result of a reduced influence from the cerebral cortex. To test this, we compared single and multiple saccade characteristics across development. We find that in contrast to the reduction in the latency of single saccades that is observed across development, the latency of initial saccades in multiple saccade sequences is remarkably stable across all age groups. Moreover, the longer the latency of this initial saccade, the more accurate it is, suggesting that there is a relation between the degree of procrastination and the accuracy of the response. Finally, the frequency with which multiple saccades occurred within each age group was positively correlated with the tendency to generate erroneous saccades during a fixation control task. Taken together, the present data suggest that multiple saccades are generated in a more automatic manner than single saccades.