The AACPDM’s 64th Annual Meeting was designed to provide targeted opportunities for dissemination of information in the basic sciences, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and technical advances as applied to persons with cerebral palsy and developmental disorders. The program provided a forum for discussion of scientific developments and clinical advances in the care of people with these problems. By presenting forums which foster interdisciplinary communication and interchange among all allied health care professionals concerned with individuals with cerebral palsy and neurodevelopmental disorders, this program’s purpose was to ensure that the qualified personnel have the skills and knowledge derived from practices that have been determined through research and experience to be successful in serving children with disabilities. The purpose was also to encourage teambuilding within organizations and institutions, encourage multicenter studies, develop information for parents, and find a consensus on the optimal care of various conditions.

The AACPDM’s annual meeting has evolved over time in which it began as a limited event by only inviting physicians who were diplomats of specialty boards into now inviting all health care professionals concerned with the care of patients with cerebral palsy and other childhood onset disabilities, including: Developmental and other Pediatricians, Neurologists, Psychologists, Physiatrists, Orthopedic and Neuro-Surgeons, Physical and Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Orthotists, Rehab Engineers, Kinesthiologists, Nurses, Special Education Teachers, Educators and Administrators, Researchers, and Dieticians.

CPIRF sponsored Research Panel with a $5,000 Educational Grant, in conjunction with AACPDM

As part of our co-sponsorship of the AACPDM conference, CPIRF joined UCP and AACPDM in hosting a CP research panel discussion at the September 22nd conference welcoming session that took place at the Newseum in Washington, DC.

CPIRF Best Scientific Poster Award

Each year, Cerebral Palsy International Research Foundation provides an award for the best scientific poster presentation given at the Annual Meeting. The AACPDM Awards Committee reviews all of the scientific posters and grades each poster per specified criteria noted below:
- Methodology/Hypothesis
- Data Analysis
- Discovery / Interpretation
- Clarity of Writing / Presentation
- Relevance / Significance
- Originality
Each criteria is given a rating of Outstanding, Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor. Then all of the scores are totaled and averaged. The Award Recipient is selected as highest rated average poster from all committee member ratings.

CEO, Glenn R. Tringali, Presented Goldenson Award to Dr. Terry Sanger

Dr. Terrance Sanger was the 2010 winner of the Isabelle and Leonard H. Goldenson Technology and Rehabilitation Award. This award is presented annually to a scientist for outstanding contributions in the development and use of technology and rehabilitation methodologies that enhance the quality of life for individuals with cerebral palsy and other disabilities and their families. CEO Glenn R. Tringali presented the award to Dr. Sanger during the AACPDM Conference at a ceremony on Friday, September 24, 2010.

See full story of “2010 Goldenson Awards” in “CP In The News”, Featured Stories.

ADD funds projects of national significance (PNS) designed to foster systems change in meeting the needs of people with developmental disabilities and their families. ADD is asking people to complete a short on-line survey about the types of programs and projects that would be most helpful to people and their families. The survey can be completed on line until September 1, 2010

Link to the survey.

A Conference for Adults with Cerebral Palsy

The CP conferences bring together adults with CP as well as members of the medical profession, social workers and educators who focus on the issues confronting adults with CP. For many adults with CP, as well parents and caregivers, the conferences are the only source of information about living with CP.

The conference takes place from June 25th to June 28th in San Jose.

Read the full brochure here.

Mindy L. Aisen, MD – Medical Director of CPIRF and Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Hospita

Medical Director Mindy Aisen Chairs Successful Transformational Technology Summit

CPIRF Medical Director Mindy Aisen who also serves as Chief Medical Officer at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, CA, chaired the three day international Transformational Technology Summit that was held September 2-4, 2010 at Rancho.

“We created this first-of-its kind Summit to promote collaboration among research, industrial and clinical leaders in finding new solutions to improving clinical care for the rapidly increasing population of individuals with disabilities,” said Rancho Chief Medical Officer Mindy Aisen, MD.

“Rehabilitation care is facing new opportunities and challenges that demand revolutionary approaches,” Dr. Aisen continued.  “The time has come to rewrite the future for people with neurological damage, whether it has occurred in childhood or adulthood.  That’s why we wanted to begin a dialogue among the leaders in our field to advance creative rehabilitation strategies for the 21^st Century and beyond.”

CPIRF was one of the key sponsors of this conference which featured speakers from as far away as Israel, Switzerland and the Netherlands; from major universities such as MIT, Harvard, Brown, Cornell, UCLA and USC; and from key governmental funding organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.

The conference also provided the opportunity for CPIRF CEO, Glenn Tringali to present a major award to Dr. John Hsu, 2010 winner of the Isabelle and Leonard H. Goldenson Technology and Rehabilitation Award.  Although Dr. Hsu retired nearly a decade ago, he still regularly assists Rancho’s Pediatrics patients.

Upon receiving the award, Dr. Hsu said “This puts an exclamation point on my career.  I’m thankful to the CPIRF, but also to all my Rancho colleagues who have encouraged my research and work in the clinics and made my life so interesting and meaningful for all these years.”

CPIRF is proud to co-sponsor a two-day workshop entitled ‘Themes in Neurorehabilitation: CP Across the Lifespan’ at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD on November 5 and 6^th 2010. Dr. Mindy Aisen, CPIRF’s Medical Director, will be giving the keynote address. Come learn about the best-evidence practices for the treatment of the medical, rehabilitative and psychosocial conditions that may occur in individuals with cerebral palsy at each stage of life. Educators, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapist, speech & language pathologists, community program coordinators, psychologists, social workers, counselors, parents and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend.

Save the date
November 5 – 6, 2010

Themes in Neurorehabilitation:
Cerebral Palsy Across the Lifespan

Presented by Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Kinetic Connections Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions • Baltimore, Maryland

Learn about the current best evidence-based practices for the treatment of medical, rehabilitative and psychosocial conditions that may occur in individuals with cerebral palsy at each state of life.

Keynote Speakers:
Janice Brunstrom-Hernandez, MD, Director, Pediatric Neurology Cerebral Palsy Center, St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Mindy Aisen, MD, CEO, Cerebral Palsy International Research Foundation

Registration information available in mid-May at www.resourcefinder.kennedykrieger.org
Who Should Attend:
Community program coordinators, counselors, educators, nurses, nutritionists/ dietitians, occupational therapists, parents and individuals with disabilities, physical therapists, psychologists, social workers, and speech & language pathologists.

Conference Sessions:

November 5
• Augmentative Communication Strategies

• Coping with a New Diagnosis/Accessing Care

• Education Issues

• Neuroimaging as a Guide to Diagnosis

• Nutrition/Feeding

• Strategic Planning for Therapeutic Interventions

November 6
• Community Integration/Socialization

• Disability & Sexuality

• Quality of Life

• Transition Issues

• Wellness/Medicine/Aging

CPIRF is pleased to co-sponsor the 2010 Association of Children’s Prosthetic-Orthotic Clinics’ Annual Meeting at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, FL June 2^nd through the 5^th. Click here for meeting agenda. CPIRF’s Medical Director Dr. Mindy Aisen and orthopedic surgeons Drs. Laura Tosi and Kevin Murphy will hold a symposium entitled ‘ . Cerebral Palsy: Pediatric to Adult Transition’ on Friday June 5^th.

To learn more about the Association of Children’s Prosthetic-Orthotic Clinics (ACPOC) go to their website at www.acpoc.org

If you want to attend the upcoming annual meeting call (847)698-1937 or email at raymond@aaos.org

CPIRF supports several US based clinical research programs which explore new ways in which 21^st Century Technologies can be combined with new concepts in brain plasticity and the value of intensive repetitive motor practice to enhance and optimize neurological development. By sharing knowledge across disciplines and studying ways to use these technologies to provide an intensity of appropriate and focused therapy, we can change the future for 100’s of thousands of people disabled by motor impairments caused by brain injury early in childhood (Cerebral Palsy).

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of an activity-specific electrical stimulation program on paretic limb impairment, functional limitation, and ability to perform valued activities in children or adults with Cerebral Palsy and motor impairment.

METHOD:  CPIRF requests applications for studies and is offering funds up to 100 thousand dollars over a 2 year period. Applications will be reviewed for scientific merit and relevancy by the Scientific Advisory Council of the Cerebral Palsy International Research Foundation, and award decisions will be rendered by the Board of Directors.

Examples of studies which will be considered include but are not limited to: examining the impact of body weight supported treadmill training with and without electrical stimulation training: assessing strength, tone, biomechanical alignment, and gait efficiency;  incorporating a neuroprosthesis to treat foot drop, ankle spasticity and inappropriate tone in spastic hemiplegic or diplegic cerebral palsy; combining functional neurostimulation with upper or lower extremity robotics; combining functional electrical stimulation with virtual reality therapy; and combining functional neurostimulation to strengthen antagonist muscles after injectable focal antispasticity treatments are administered.

BACKGROUND:

Cerebral Palsy is damage to the brain of an otherwise healthy child before the age of two.  Until the 1990’s physicians felt that brain damage was destiny. Few therapeutic options existed to actually correct neurological damage.

Contrary to what many clinicians believe(d), the human brain has the potential for considerable plasticity. It can change its internal organization, particularly its synaptic connections, throughout a lifetime, not just during the formative years. This means that it is possible to ameliorate the effects of not only cerebral palsy, but stroke, and other brain disorders.

In patients with stroke or cerebral palsy, neuronal tissue damage occurs due to either lack of oxygen or exposure to free radicals/inflammatory agents.  The resulting neurological deficit has long been thought irreversible. But researchers have demonstrated that reversing that neurological deficit in stroke patients is possible even many years after the stroke. And recent research indicates that cerebral palsy, too, can be treated by similar means.

The brain is a learning machine, and just because it is damaged doesn’t mean that it can’t learn, and it learns motor tasks through prolonged, highly reproducible, high-intensity, interactive therapy. Many believe that it is necessary for therapists to provide a far more intense and meaningful therapy experience than is generally possible in conventional therapy programs

NEED FOR THIS RESEARCH:

Combining elements of mass practice, robotics, virtual reality, patterned neuro-muscular stimulation, and other advanced technologies, may well be the way to a future which revolutionizes the neurologic rehabilitation of children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Functional Neuromuscular Stimulation neuroprostheses, functional electrical stimulation (FES), and various emerging applications based on microsystems devices, neural engineering, neuroaugmentation, neurostimulation, and assistive technologies all hold great promise for treating children and adults with Cerebral Palsy. To date very limited data exists examining task-specific practice interventions combined with task specific practice. Although often used, an important limitation of conventional electrical stimulation is that it does not involve task-specific practice.

In this study, physicians/clinicians with expertise in Cerebral Palsy and rehabilitation research will seek to determine the impact of an activity-specific electrical stimulation program on paretic limb impairment, functional limitation, and ability to perform valued activities in people with Cerebral Palsy and motor dysfunction.

How to apply:

Please send a 1-2 page letter of intent, reviewing the fundamental elements of the study you propose, relevant information about your ability to perform the study (institutional resources, expertise of coworkers, access to the Cerebral Palsy community), a timeline and budget outline. Also include the Prinicipal Invesigator’s CV.

This should be sent to

Dr. Nancy Maher

Cerebral Palsy International Research Foundation

1025 Connecticut Avenue

Suite 701

Washington, DC

20036

Or

Scanned and emailed to Dr Maher and Dr. Mindy Aisen

nmaher@cpirf.org, maisen@cpirf.org

Full applications will be accepted until March 1, 2010.

21st CENTURY NEURO-REHABILITATIVE TECHNOLOGIES WILL BE INTRODUCED AT THE “TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES” SEMINAR IN CHICAGO

Revolutionary technologies in the fields of Robotic Therapy and Virtual Reality Neuropathology
to be presented at two-day conference

CHICAGO, IL (July 29, 2008) The Cerebral Palsy International Research Foundation has teamed up with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago to present the Transformational Technologies seminar from August 14-15, that will highlight robotic therapies and their use in improving motor skills for people with cerebral palsy. This new approach will bring hope that CP patients will be able to live longer and more independently.

Celebral Palsy is defined as a condition caused by brain damage in a child before the age of two years old that results in a lack of muscle control, especially in the limbs. About 800,000 people in America have some form of cerebral palsy. Each year 10,000 infants are diagnosed with cerebral palsy. About 2-3 children per 1,000, have cerebral palsy.

The conference will feature workshops and demonstrations of robotic therapy, play therapy, virtual therapy and rehabilitation, as well as question and answer sessions from the world’s preeminent authorities on both Cerebral Palsy Rehabilitation and Robotic/Virtual Reality Therapy technologies. The purpose is to promote discussions and new hypotheses from accomplished researchers so that new discoveries can continue to be made.

Robotic Therapy, already in use for stroke rehabilitation, utilizes the functions of robots to perform a task that requires more fine movement than a human can do. Robots can be used to guide a paralyzed limb through movements in a very exact way that combines the person’s intended movement with the actual movement they are initiating, thus enabling them to complete the intended movement. Robots can help a paralyzed or disabled person practice a task that involves arm or leg movement, such as playing a musical instrument or walking.

“Imagine possibilities in the highly plastic brain of the baby or child with cerebral palsy,” says Dr. Mindy Aisen, Co-Chair of the seminar and one of the foremost authorities of Cerebral Palsy research. She adds, “It IS possible for children to grow up with more strength, coordination, and less spasticity and pain and this event will focus on how to remedy some of the immobilizing effects of cerebral palsy.”