August 2017  

 
Welcome to the August issue of CanChild Today! World Cerebral Palsy Day (October 6) is just around the corner, and we are excited to invite you to join in on a global celebration of the lives and achievements of children, youth and adults with CP. We are also proud to share the accomplishments of our team members through good news, recent publications and a special tribute to our Co-founder by the World CP Day organization!

Please feel free to share CanChild resources and this newsletter with family, friends and colleagues. They can subscribe to the CanChild Today Newsletter for free by registering   here . Our past issues are archived on the CanChild website and can be accessed here!  
CP-NET Science & Family Day 2017
Registration now open!
Photo courtesy of Veronica Rousseau
Oct 6, 2017 | 10:00am - 4:00pm
David Braley Health Sciences Centre, 
Hamilton, ON (view map)

Families, caregivers, healthcare professionals and researchers are invited to join us for a day of research and celebration in recognition of World CP Day!


$25  (Client / Caregiver / Family Member)
$40 (Clinician / not-for-profit representative / other

Registration includes meals, parking and a t-shirt. 
Register by September 29th! 

Tribute to Peter Rosenbaum by World CP Day
"The best life is the best medicine for people with cerebral palsy"

Canada's Dr Peter Rosenbaum has made a significant contribution to shifting the way we think about, treat and advise families of people with cerebral palsy.

It's been a very long road, but the focus is now 'functioning' rather than 'fixing'. Nowadays, we promote the idea of the best life possible being the best medicine for people with cerebral palsy.

Who is Dr Peter Rosenbaum?

  Dr Peter Rosenbaum is a developmental pediatrician. Simply, this means he's interested in the way impairments and chronic health conditions impact the development of children and their families.
He's been in this field a long time now, and has both witnessed and influenced substantial changes in how children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities are treated.

But this story began when a much younger Peter Rosenbaum followed his soon-to-be wife from Canada to England. It was London-town that introduced him to developmental pediatrics, which - at the time - was a relatively untapped field of clinical work or science.

He graduated from a world class program in this field, and returned to Canada where he was recruited as a clinician and teacher by the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, at McMaster University in Ontario .

Continue reading on www.worldcpday.org.
Psst... Stay tuned for a new 'F-words' video!

Function, Family, Fitness, Fun, Friends and Future... What do these six words mean to teens and young adults with cerebral palsy and other disabilities? Find out on October 6, when CP-NET releases a new video in celebration of World CP Day!  Follow CP-NET on Facebook for updates. 
News & Congratulations!

Congratulations to the following CanChild members who were awarded funding by the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine: 

Peter Rosenbaum, Christine Imms, Andrea Cross and Rae Martens for the grant  WOW! Welcome Orientation Workshops: New ideas for parenting a child with an early onset neurodisability in the 21st Century ($25,000 USD). 

Jan Willem Gorter, Patrick McPhee & Olaf Verschuren for the grant  Multi-morbidity risk assessment and prevention through health-promoting behaviours (physical activity, nutrition and sleep) in adolescents and adults with cerebral palsy ( $24,957 USD)

Congratulations to Stephen Gentles, who has been awarded a one-year Lawson Postdoctoral Fellowship. Stephen will move to the Offord Centre and take on a lead role on the Pediatric Autism Research Collaboration (PARC) Study under the supervision of Stelios Georgiades. 

Congratulations to Briano Di Rezze on receiving a Hamilton Health Science New Investigator Fund for the project entitled Autism Classification System of Functioning: Social Communication - Expansion & Testing For Toddlers ($35,000 CAD). 
Recent Publications by CanChild Members
Social Participation and Navigation (SPAN): Description and usability of app-based coaching intervention for adolescents with TBI.
Challenges in social participation, an important predictor of outcomes, are common in adolescents with brain injury (BI). The Social Participation and Navigation (SPAN) program was developed to help teenagers with BI achieve their social participation goals and includes a mobile app, online instructions and peer coaching. This paper describes the SPAN program, reports participant feedback and assesses social and behavioral function before and after. Four adolescents and four coaches participated in the program, meeting weekly by video conference to develop participation goals and plans to achieve them.  Preliminary outcomes support the usability of the program and its potential to improve social participation of adolescents with BI.  Authors: Narad ME, Bedell G, King JA, Johnson J, Turkstra LS, Haarbauer-Krupa J, Wade SL. Dev Neurorehabil. 2017 Aug 1:1-10. doi: 10.1080/17518423.2017.1354092. [Epub ahead of print]

While previous research indicates that suicidal thoughts and behaviour (STB) are more prevalent among adolescents and young adults with chronic illness in comparison to their healthy peers, important knowledge gaps remain. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of STB in young people with and without chronic illness, quantify associations between STB and chronic illness, and explore the moderating roles of comorbid psychiatric disorder on these associations. Findings confirmed that this population experiences an elevated risk of STB, and that the presence of a psychiatric disorder is associated with increased STB in young people with chronic illness. The findings from this study indicate that health professionals should routinely ask about STB during their assessments of adolescent and young adult patients.   Authors: Ferro MARhodes AE, Kimber MDuncan LBoyle MHGeorgiades KGonzalez AMacMillan HLCan J Psychiatry. 2017 Jan 1:706743717727242. doi: 10.1177/0706743717727242. [Epub ahead of print]
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