Detection of the problems deriving from dressing skills of children with cerebral palsy and a sample application

An environmental and vital requirement among the products designed for humankind, clothes are one of the important factors affecting the life quality of people aswell as reflecting their emotions and life styles. When it comes to the daily lifeactivities of physically handicapped people and their inclusion to the society, theimportance of clothes becomes more. It is necessary that the clothes for physicallyhandicapped people should not only have an asset composed of the combination withcomfort different from the standard clothes, but be functional and not expose thephysical handicaps as well.The level of physical deficiency varying in the handicapped group causes theindividuals not to meet their need of clothing, an important part of their lives, andcauses them to be dependent on others. For these individuals, it is of great necessitythat their level of independence should be increased through designing clothes withfeatures that are not eye-catching and modified, clothes that satisfy their personaltastes at the maximum and that help their needs.This study sets out to detect the problems deriving from dressing skills ofchildren with Cerebral Palsy and to create functional clothing forms that willincrease their level of independence. To serve this purpose, the restrictionspertaining to their movements in their clothing skill were found out, the clothes partscreating problems in putting on were detected, and considering the opinions ofmothers and educators related to the clothes needs and forms of children, functionalclothes forms were aimed to create.In the first part of the study, the definition, the importance and the aim of theproblem were dealt with and the reason why the problem is worth studying wereexplained regarding the interest of the ready-made clothing sector to the issue and thelife quality of their families. In the second part of the study, theoretical explanationswere made through conceptual framework related to the topic.In the third part of the study, information related to the method and the materialof the study, data collecting technique of the study and the analysis of the dataobtained.The fourth part of the study is composed of the pre-test and the post-test analysis.In the scope of the pre-test, the restrictions of movement with the children sufferingfrom SP in dressing were decided on and then the clothing parts that cause the mostdifficulty were detected. The results of the questionnaires and personal interviewsrelated to the opinions of mothers and the educators on the issue were evaluated andall the data were presented after analyses and the conclusions reached werediscussed. As a result of the findings obtained through the pre-test, functionalclothes forms with symbolical value were prepared to increase the level ofindependence of the children with SP.In the post-test, clothes designs formed were worn by the children with SP andtheir skill levels were observed. Through the statistical analysis of the findingsobtained between the pre and the post-test, it was aimed to find out the effect of thefunctional clothes on the dressing skills of children with SP.In the conclusion part, functional and symbolical values were introduced for thehandicapped and suggestions were made for users, educational establishments andready-made clothes sector