Enhacing attentional stability when developing motor skills of children suffering from cerebral palsy

The purpose of the research was experimental justification of a positive tendency of increasing quality, duration, intensity and stability of attention of children suffering from cerebral palsy in case of their functional and motor skills improvement. Materials and methods. The study covered 15 children aged 6-7 years suffering from diplegic cerebral palsy varying in the level of severity and mental skills. Children were engaged in land based activities every day and in water based activities 3 times a week. The following research methods were implemented: pedagogical supervision with expert assessment of the recorded data; psychological testing with registration of time spent on task execution, speed calculation, coefficient of task execution accuracy and attentional stability, definition of short-term and operative visual and auditory memory; mathematical statistics methods. Results. Expert assessments of pedagogical supervisions showed a significant improvement of motor and functional skills of children being studied in the framework of the pedagogical experiment. The results of these improvements were reflected in the significant development of children focused attention, memorization and correct repetition of separate movements, upgrading mental abilities in the form of concentration improvement and attentional stability, increasing power of short-term and operative visual and auditory memory. Conclusion. The article shows the possibility of developing cognitive abilities, concentration, stability and redistribution of attention of children suffering from cerebral palsy when developing their motor skills.

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