Olaf Kraus de Camargo along with a number of CanChild researchers and parents (Kinga Pozniak, Wenonah Campbell, Genevieve Currie, Danijela Grahovac, Amanda Doherty-Kirby, and Jeanine Lebsack) received a CIHR grant called "COVID Time Capsule: Learning from Covid-related experiences of children with disabilities and their parents to improve health supports and services".

The study will use creative visual methods to explore the experiences of children or youth with disabilities and their parents throughout the COVID pandemic to understand i) what supports and services these families need, now and into the future; and ii) what practices and models of care are needed to mediate the negative effects of COVID on these families and protect them against future adversities.

Register now for the CP-NET Meet the Expert Series on January 24th! Dr. Elaine Biddiss and Dr. Anna McCormick will answer questions about the CP-NET neurotechnology platform and a video game (called Bootle Blast) that they developed to track the movement of children with cerebral palsy.

How to join?

Come for an informal chat about why TikTok (social media app) is an emerging space for disseminating research knowledge. Rachel Martens, CanChild Research Engagement Strategist, will share current best practices on TikTok and ways to use videos between social media channels.

When?

Thursday, January 20, 2022

7:00 PM – 8:00 pm EST

Where?

Online, Zoom

Congratulations to two students from the School of Rehabilitation Science (SRS) for receiving the CanChild Research Awards at the

McMaster University SRS Convocation!

Occupational Therapy Program: Tessa Webb

Physical Therapy Program: Guneet Khakh

Registration is now open for the Combined 11th Australasian Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine and the 3rd International Alliance of Academies of Childhood Disability Better Together Conference that will be held virtually on March 1-5, 2022.

The conference will include presentations on cutting-edge international research, interventions, and knowledge translation initiatives around disabilities. Learn from world-renowned speakers about a range of topics, including transitional care, technology, policy, interventions, family/caregiver wellbeing, pain, rehabilitation, and more! Additional details about the program and speakers are available on the conference website.

Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six (FOCUS ©) is a clinical tool designed to evaluate change in communicative participation in preschool children. ‘Communicative participation’ is the child’s communication and interaction in “real world” situations at home, school, or in the community.

The FOCUS is a valid, reliable, responsive treatment outcome measure that captures ‘real world’ changes following speech and language treatment. There are two versions of the measure, one designed for parents and one for clinicians. The FOCUS Manual and Scoresheets are available on the CanChild Shop.

In ‘childhood disability’ we have traditionally focused on the child with the impairment. We expected to make the right diagnosis and find the right treatments. In this way of thinking, our interventions should aim to ‘fix’ the problem. In the past, professionals (service providers) led the investigations and planned management; parents were expected to ‘comply’ with professionals’ recommendations. Much has changed recently! Service providers are expected to pay close attention to parents’ perspectives about their child and family, their goals, and their wellbeing. This paper offers contemporary ideas to bring this way of thinking to all clinical encounters. Authors: Rosenbaum PL, Novak-Pavlic M. Curr Dev Disord Rep. 2021 Nov 20:1-7. doi: 10.1007/s40474-021-00240-2.

In collaboration with a parent-partner, we conducted a study to know if questionnaire items based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework are feasible for collecting data on neurodiverse children using a national platform. Parents provided feedback at the questionnaire development stage to ensure the platform could generate relevant data and outputs. Through focus groups, parents rated items as important or feasible to complete, provided additional suggestions for the questionnaire, and shared their caregiving experiences. Obtaining feedback from neurodiverse youths and healthcare providers on the questionnaire is a critical next step to develop a platform that will benefit knowledge, advocacy, and inform policies to support families. Authors: Gonzalez M, Saxena S, Chowdhury F, Dyck Holzinger S, Martens R, Oskoui M, Shikako-Thomas K. Child Care Health Dev. 2022 Jan;48(1):88-98. doi: 10.1111/cch.12906.

We interviewed school board speech-language pathologists to ask about the types of services they provide and the factors that influence service provision. Most described using a tiered model; however, several described offering a range of services “responsive to needs” of students but that did not have a formal structure. Six factors were reported to influence service provision: interprofessional collaboration and relationship building, stakeholder buy-in and support, adaptability to school culture, organization of services, resources, and policy. Implications for practice include a need for profession-specific leadership, use of consistent terminology and language, and inclusion of the clinician voice in decisions about the models used to support students’ success. Authors: Terreberry S, Dix L, Cahill P, Passaretti B, Campbell W. Can. J. Speech-Lang. Pathol. Audiol. 2021;45(4):267-282. https://www.cjslpa.ca/detail.php?ID=1290&lang=en.