What is SPARCLE?  

SPARCLE stands for the Study of PARticipation of Children with cerebral palsy Living in Europe.  SPARCLE wants to find out about children who have cerebral palsy in different countries.   

Why children with cerebral palsy?

• About one child in 500 has cerebral palsy; so that makes many thousands of children in Europe.

• Children who have cerebral palsy can find it more difficult to do the things they want to with friends; and to get all they want out of school.

What does SPARCLE want to find out?

We are interested in all children with cerebral palsy living in different countries so that we can compare their lives and surroundings.  We know that things are different in different countries but we don’t know which things are most likely to help children with cerebral palsy.

One important thing we want to know is how children with cerebral palsy feel about their lives.  The only way to do this is to ask the children themselves.  Children who are asked to take part in SPARCLE will be asked to answer a questionnaire. If a child cannot do this, then we ask the family to complete the questionnaire for their child.

We are also interested in what children with cerebral palsy do in everyday life and in their surroundings.  For example, we want to know about:-

• How easy is it to get in and out of buildings

• School

• Relationships with family and friends

• Special equipment such as wheelchairs

• What are the buses and trains like.

To find out about these things, we ask the child’s family to complete some questionnaires.

Who is taking part in SPARCLE?

Children all over Europe will be asked to take part in SPARCLE!   We hope that there will be over 1000 children aged 8 – 12 years in the study altogether.

We know some children will have problems with talking and expressing themselves but we are just as interested in their views and experiences.

What happens to the information?

Everything we are told is private.  We write reports and give talks about the study, but nobody gets to know who gave us the information.  We hope what we write in our reports will help children and all people with disabilities in the future.

Any questions?

If you would like to talk to us more about the project please get in touch.  The address is:

Allan Colver                       

Newcastle University

Sir James Spence Institute

Royal Victoria Infirmary

Newcastle upon Tyne

UK

NE1 4LP

Tel:  (+44) (0)191 219 6672

e-mail:    allan.colver@ncl.ac.uk