Possibilities and challenges for the intellectual evaluation of non-verbal children with cerebral palsy in Brazil

Evaluating intellectual development of non-verbal children with cerebral palsy is a challenge for psychologists. So, the goal of this study is to show the challenges of the intellectual evaluation of non-speaking children with cerebral palsy and to propose ways to overcome it. We looked for available intellectual evaluation tools for use in Brazil and analyzed their potentials and limitations in the evaluation of non-verbal children. We found seven tools that are used on children evaluation (Columbia, R-2, TNVR I, TONI-3, SON-R 2%-7 [a] and WISC-IV) and six main problems: (a) difficult to point out the answer, (b) slippery material, (c) small pictures, (d) need of fine motor skills, (e) time-dependent results, and (f) speaking answers. We propose some technological and physical adaptations for helping the process and conclude that there is still a lot of work to be done in an interdisciplinary way so children with cerebral palsy have a right quality evaluation.