Use of the Physical Abilities and Mobility Scale (PAMS) in Children Receiving Inpatient Rehabilitation for Spinal Cord Related Paralysis

Pediatric spinal cord disease/injury (SCD/SCI) related paralysis is rare and treatment requires very specialized care and knowledge. Documenting meaningful changes during rehabilitation in young children is sometimes challenging, especially in the context of neurodevelopment. The Physical Abilities and Mobility Scale (PAMS) was developed as a brief and repeatable measure of assessing physical skills and mobility in children age two to twenty-one, as a complement to the WeeFIM® to detect smaller changes in a child’s functional status. The current project aims to assess the reliability and validity of the PAMS in the assessment of functional changes in a group of children receiving inpatient rehabilitation for paralysis secondary to SCD/SCI.

• 1
  Internal consistency and inter-rater reliability were high (0.94 at admission and 0.95 at discharge).
• 2
  Total PAMS scores highly correlated with total WeeFIM®, mobility, self-care and cognitive subscores at admission and discharge.
• 3
  Total PAMS score and all individual items increased significantly between admission and discharge.