Clinical tools designed to assess motor abilities in children with cerebral palsy

Objective: This systematic review aimed to list the tools used by rehabilitation professionals to test motor abilities in children with cerebral palsy (CP), to determine if these tools have psychometric properties specifically measured for CP, and to identify the main characteristics of these tools. Method: Web of Science, PEDro, PubMed/MEDLINE, Science Direct, and SciELO databases were searched to identify the tools. PubMed/MEDLINE was then searched to identify the studies assessing those tools' psychometric properties. The agreement-based standards for the selection of health measurement tools and the Terwee criteria were used to assess the quality and the results of each included study, respectively. Results: Eighteen tools were identified. The psychometric properties of many of the tools used with children with CP have not been evaluated for this population. Conclusion: The psychometric properties evaluated often have a poor methodological quality of measurement. Overall, we suggest the tools with most empirical support to evaluate children with CP. (AU)