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Mary Wardell
Instructor
| Joined: | Sun Jan 14th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 2 |
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Posted: Thu Jan 18th, 2007 12:58 am |
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You've given me lots of food for thought and some great suggestions! Thanks a lot!
Mary
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plor
Instructor
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Posted: Wed Jan 17th, 2007 08:11 pm |
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Dear Mary,
When you look at standardized testing for the pre-school age group (generally 3-5 year olds), what you would typically find is a look at maximum speed:
Thus on the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, 2nd edition (PDMS2) you find the running speed for 45 feet should be less than or equal to six seconds for a child at the 37-38 month level. The Peabody also does a shuttle run: 10 feet, pick up a can and return 10 feet which should be less than or equal to five seconds for a child at the 57-58 month level.
On the old Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP), again a shuttle run was used: 45 feet pick up a standardized plastic piece and return 45 feet and age equivalents were 50 months less than or equal to 11 seconds, 60 months less than or equal to ten seconds. The new Bruininks (BOT2) has a similar 50 foot (each way)shuttle run included in a group of tests, with 48 months being ~less than or equal to 13 secs, 54 months being ~less than or equal to 12 secs and 60 months being ~less than or equal to 11 seconds.
I would probably look at speed over a longer distance than ten feet, since at such a short distance the start up/slow down becomes a big factor in the timing, unless you have the child start behind the official "start line" (for time) so that they are moving when they cross that line, and similarly keep moving past the official "finish line" for timing.
I'm trying to find the source for some info I jotted down which states that the average walking speed for an elementary school child in the school setting (walking between classes in the building) is 1.0-1.5 miles per hour. I have used that for a goal for some children, anticipating their ability to keep up with their peers....I apologize for not having the source for that and will post it if/when I find it, so for now that's officially "hearsay".
In planning a study where you want to document improvement you might also think of using exertion parameters such as heart rate, and O2 saturation; if the child does not move notably faster, they may be, however, moving at the same speed with less effort, also an important gain. Also maximum distance covered in one session could be another measure of gain.
hope this is helpful,
plo'r
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Mary Wardell
Instructor
| Joined: | Sun Jan 14th, 2007 |
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Posted: Sun Jan 14th, 2007 09:59 pm |
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I am currently working on a case study using BWS-TT with a 3 year old child with a diagnosis of seizure disorder. He has visual impairment, tactile hypersensitivity, and his gait is very ataxic. We did a 6 week trial of 30 min sessions twice per week on the treadmill with the goal of improving gait velocity and endurance and hopefully transitioning to a walker with assistance. He is making some positive improvements and I am extending the trial for another 3 months.
In trying to set a realistic goal for gait velocity I started looking to see if there were any parameters for average gait velocity for the preschool age group (2-5 years). I had a PT student do a literture search and the findings were very limited. Does anyone have any info on gait velocity measures for this population? We ended up using children enrolled in our preschool development program to come with average gait velocity but I was wodering if there were any other established parameters out there. If anyone else measures gait velocity changes with your pediatric patients, how do you do it? We did the number of seconds to walk ten feet over three trials and took the average. Any input is appreciated.
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