NCT00465686

Effect of Ergonomic Classroom Furniture on the Printing Legibility of Elementary Students With Cerebral Palsy

Ergonomic Classroom Furniture and the Printing Legibility of Elementary School Students With CP

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 1
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (actual)
• Sponsor: Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 6 Years – 8 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this pilot study is to gather the data needed to do a larger research study to determine whether children with cerebral palsy print better sitting at an ergonomically-designed, custom-fitted school desk or at an oversized, standard school desk.

Detailed description

This pilot study will allow us to gather information for a high-quality randomized controlled trial to study the efficacy of ergonomic school furniture as a remedial handwriting intervention for young students with cerebral palsy. We will conduct the study in two parts. In the first part, 30 children with Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) Level I and II cerebral palsy will each provide manuscript handwriting samples using two different school furniture configurations. A blinded assessor will score the legibility of handwriting samples using the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (MHA) as a primary outcome measure. In the second part, seven occupational therapy experts will attend a focus group to help us determine the minimal clinically important difference score for the MHA. We will use the data collected to determine the sample size requirements for a proposed randomized controlled trial.

Conditions

• Cerebral Palsy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	ergonomic chair and desk (Q-Learn Classic Chair and Q-Learn Desk)	ergonomic school chair and desk adjusted to fit the child user as per the manufacturer's instructions
DEVICE	ergonomic desk and chair (Q-Learn Desk)	child sits on chair and desk for 5 minutes, then provides handwriting sample at one desk, then repeats this for the other desk

Timeline

• Start date: 2007-02-01
• Primary completion: 2008-05-01
• Completion: 2008-05-01
• First posted: 2007-04-25
• Last updated: 2008-05-09

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada