For more details and to register for this event, click here.

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.

Link to the survey.

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.”

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

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

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.

The Weinstein-Goldenson Award is presented by CPIRF annually to a clinician-scientist for outstanding contributions in medical research which enhance the lives of persons with cerebral palsy and their families. The Isabelle and Leonard H. Goldenson Award is presented by CPIRF annually to a scientist for outstanding contributions in the development and use of technology and rehabilitation methodologies that enhances the quality of life of persons with cerebral palsy and other disabilities and their families.

Click Picture for Bio.

Murray Goldstein, DO, MPH
2008 Weinstein-Goldenson Medical Science Awardee

Click Picture for Bio.

Robert Jaegar, PhD.
2008 Isabelle and Leonard H. Goldenson Awardee