Participation in activities that provide a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment during childhood and youth helps to foster positive development into adult hood. Participation has been shown to be an indicator of overall health and well-being across the lifespan and has been described as a key rehabilitation outcome.
However, children with disabilities are often restricted in their participation.Most research on participation of children with disabilities has focused on children and youth with cerebral palsy (CP)1, and acquired brain injury (ABI).Findings from this research demonstrate that children with disabilities often articipate in and enjoy a wide range of activities but participate less frequently than children without disabilities in many of these activities. Findings also indicate that children with disabilities are often more restricted when participating in the community than at home or at school.