Objective: To determine the reliability of the Persian translation of the Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) between parents and therapists in children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Materials & Methods: After the forward and backward translation procedures and investigation of face and content validity, inter-rater reliability was assessed between parents and occupational therapists using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and the weighted kappa coefficient. 100 Children (4 to 18 years, mean age 85.15 months 63 boys, 37 girls) with various types of CP were classified according to MACS by both parents and therapists. Additional data on the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), intellectual delay, visual acuity, auditory acuity and epilepsy were collected.

Results. The inter-rater reliability was high the ICC was 0.96 (ranged from 0.94 to 0.97) among occupational therapists and parents .Total agreement there was between the GMFCS and the MACS.

Conclusion. The Persian version of the MACS is found to be reliable between parents and therapists, and is suggested to be appropriate for the assessment of manual ability within the Iranian population.