Clinical and psychological support for preschool children with cerebral palsy

Relevance. Timely comprehensive diagnostics of psycho-social factors involved in the formation of cerebral palsy in children, their influence on the formation of child-parent relationships is relevant and practically significant. Inharmonious upbringing, emotional disorders and personal characteristics of the parent can affect the child's mental development, contribute to violations of psycho-social adaptation. 

Objective of the study: to reveal the psychological characteristics of children with cerebral palsy and those of their mothers, to determine the characteristics of upbringing and parent-child relationships, to conduct clinical and psychological support of children with this disabling disease and their parents with elements of cognitive-behavioral correction of the identified disorders. 

Methods of research. Clinical conversation and experimental psychological method including: “Assembling Figures” method according to the 4th Wechsler subtest; method of drawing associations by S. Rosenzweig (children's version) modified by N.V. Tarabrina(1978); René Gilles method, 1950; test “SMOL” ( V.P. Zaitsev, 1981); “PARI” method by E.S. Schaefer and R.K. Bell, adapted by T. V. Neshcheret (1984). Methods of statistical analysis were used as well. 

The sample consisted of: Group1 (n1) – 37 pre-school children with cerebral palsy aged 5–6 years (17 girls and 20 boys) and their mothers in the MCU of Samara RC “Zhuravushka”; Group 2 (n2) – 37 conditionally healthy children of the same age and gender in the SBU SAMARA city children's polyclinic No. 9. 

Research results. It was found that in children with cerebral palsy, emotional response in a situation of frustration is accompanied by high self-accusatory reactions, low socio-psychological adaptation and low self-esteem. Child-parent relationships are in the suboptimal emotional range. An effective program of clinical and psychological cognitive-behavioral psychological correction of emotional and behavioral cerebral palsy disorders in the parent-child group was carried out. 

Conclusions. Psychosocial factors affecting the adaptation processes of preschool children with cerebral palsy were identified. Families with children with chronic disabling diseases such as cerebral palsy, need to organize training and education, including psycho-corrective and correction-developmental classes. 

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