Cheryl Missiuna is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Rehabilitation Science Department and her research focuses on using research-based services to assist children with disabilities.

She was ranked 48 in Canada's Top 100 Social Sciences and Humanities Scientists by Research.com, an academic platform that identifies and ranks the top researchers from across the globe according to their number of publications and citations. The rankings are informed by h-index data that analyzes the works of researchers published on Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic. Congratulations Cheryl!

We are looking for youth with special healthcare needs (diagnosed with a disability or chronic physical/mental health condition):

Contact Barb Galuppi galuppi@mcmaster.ca to participate in this research study!

Participants will receive a $50 gift card.

This study has been reviewed by the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board under project #14471.

Are you a caregiver of a child who receives or has received speech-language pathology services from an Ontario school board?

The COSTAS-C project is an ongoing research study regarding the most important and meaningful impacts that speech-language pathologists can have while supporting children in schools. This study will help us learn about what we need to track to ensure that these services are effective and high-quality.

This study involves a research interview and then a rating and sorting task. Finally, there will be a chance to provide feedback on the results of the study.

Contact Peter Cahill at cahillp@mcmaster.ca if you are interested!

This project has been reviewed by the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board under Project #13906.

Congratulations to Sandra VanderKaay (Principal Investigator), Wenonah Campbell, Leah Dix, and team for receiving the Ontario Society of Occupational Therapists Strategic Priorities Research Grant! The funding will support the Ethical tensions in transitioning to tiered models of school-based occupational therapy study.

On our website, you can freely access past Luke's Legacy Family Research Rounds recordings!

Luke’s Legacy Family Research Rounds is a component of the Family Engagement in Research Training Program organized through a partnership between CanChild and Kids Brain Health Network. The Research Rounds is a series of monthly virtual research presentations for patients and families that is designed in a family-friendly format with an interactive discussion component. Every presentation features a different speaker(s) who will address a particular topic or issue relevant to the lives of children/youth with disabilities and their families. The goal is to make research relevant and accessible to people whom it is about, and who contributed to it.

Saving the lives of children is a moral imperative for any society. However, the epidemiological transitions in low- and middle-income countries, accompanied by rapid population growth and increasing life expectancy, have raised ethical concerns about child health policies that are solely focused on child survival without adequate consideration for the development and well-being of the survivors with lifelong disabilities. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4.2) agenda provides a political and pragmatic framework for addressing this global child health inequity by 2030 particularly, in low- and middle-income countries.

Authors: Olusanya, B., Boo, N., Kraus de Camargo, O., Hadders-Algra, M., Wertlieb, D., Davis, A. (2022). Global Child Health & SDG 4.2.1 WHO Bulletin 2022. Bulletin of the World Health Organisation. 100. 459-461. doi: 10.2471/BLT.22.288103

Addressing education and healthcare inequity for children with disabilities is in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Fulfilment of these pledges is important because children with disabilities face greater challenges accessing quality education and appropriate health services, and experience worse learning and health outcomes especially in low- and middle-income countries. The authors make the case for optimizing school readiness for children with disabilities by focusing on disability and its determinants within culturally sensitive parenting interventions, and early child development teaching programmes at schools. The aim is to better inform parents and teachers and strengthen education systems towards achieving the full intent of SDG 4.2 and global development goals for all.

Authors: Smythe, T., Almasri, N. A., Moreno Angarita, M., Berman, B. D., Kraus de Camargo, O., Hadders-Algra, M., Lynch, P., Samms-Vaughan, M., & Olusanya, B. O. (2022). Frontiers in Pediatrics, 10, 927678. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.927678