Household task participation of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and typical development

• Examined household task participation of youth with cerebral palsy (CP), Down syndrome (DS) and typical development (TD).
• DS and CP groups were similar on task performance and assistance; CP group had a higher independence index.
• Patterns of household participation show that children and adolescents with CP and DS are actively engaged in a number of daily self-care and family-care tasks.
• All parents agreed on importance of household tasks participation.

This cross-sectional study compared patterns of household task participation (e.g., performance, assistance and independence) of youth with cerebral palsy (CP), Down syndrome (DS) and typical development (TD). Parents of 75 children and adolescents were interviewed to report on their youths’ active engagement in daily self-care and family-care tasks, using the children helping out: responsibilities, expectations and supports (CHORES) questionnaire. Groups were equivalent in age (mean = 9.3 years; SD = 2.2 years), sex (male = 39; female = 36), respondent education, presence of maid, and number of siblings at home, but differed on child cognitive function and family socioeconomic status, with the DS and the CP groups scoring lower than the TD group but not different from each other. ANOVA revealed group differences on CHORES performance of self-care tasks (p = 0.004), on total participation score (p = 0.04) and on assistance scores (p < 0.02). Post hoc comparisons showed that TD group scored higher than CP and DS groups on performance and assistance in self-care tasks and total assistance; TD and CP groups were similar on total performance and assistance in family-care tasks. The groups also differed on independence indices; the TD index was greater than the CP and DS, and the CP index was greater than the DS. Parents from the three groups did not differ on ratings of importance regarding their children's household participation (p = 0.416). In spite of observed differences, children and adolescents with CP and DS are actively engaged in daily self-care and family-care tasks; their participation at home is not prevented by the presence of their disabilities.