Study for the Quantification in Ecological Conditions of Sensorimotor and Dysexecutive Disorders in Cerebral Palsy Patients

Executive functions are defined as the mental functions necessary for an individual to adapt to a complex or new environment that requires freedom from automatic and routine behavior. Deficits in executive functions are described under the term "dysexecutive syndrome", and call into question the quality of social and professional life as well as the autonomy of patients.

The usual methods of identifying dysexecutive syndrome are based essentially on batteries of neuropsychological tests known as "paper and pencil". However, these tests may lack sensitivity, in that they assess the patient in a very structured setting, very different from real life conditions, which are full of distractions and choices to be made.

Evaluations on real tasks are more rarely used but have the advantage of observing the difficulties encountered by a patient in everyday life.

Two tests of this type have been set up in the Neurology Department of the Hôpital d'Instruction des Armées Percy, and are integrated into the routine care of patients with a dysexecutive syndrome.

For this purpose, a room in the department has been set up as a studio in order to reproduce as much as possible an everyday life environment, in which executive functions, fine motor skills, neurovegetative functions, emotional state, posture, locomotor skills and visual information capture can be measured ecologically.