Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Transitioning From The Level Surface To Stairs In Children With And Without Down Syndrome: Motor Strategy And Anticipatory Locomotor Adjustments, Huaqing Liang, Xiang Ke, Jianhua Wu

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Background: Children with Down syndrome (DS) show underdeveloped motor strategy and anticipatory locomotor adjustments (ALA) before crossing an obstacle. Stairs presents another important setting to study environment navigation and motor adaptation. Inclusion of external ankle load is often used to perturb the stability of a system and observe the emergence of new patterns.

Research question: How do stair height and external ankle load affect motor strategy and ALA in 5-to-11-year-old children with typical development (TD) and with DS when approaching the stairs?

Methods: Fourteen children with DS and 14 age- and sex-matched children with TD participated in the study. They …

Occupational Therapy’S Role In Early Language Development Of Babies And Young Children, Aimee E. Ketchum, Otd, Otr/L, Marie-Christine Potvin, Phd, Otr/L

Student Papers, Posters & Projects

Occupational therapy practitioners in their interactions with babies, young children and their families, can be change-agents who promote rich language environments as a foundation to social interactions, social participation and academic successes. OTPs may be the sole provider working with a family or may reinforce with families the plan of care developed by speech-language pathologists (SLP) or early intervention teachers. The first step for OTPs is deeper knowledge of the importance of early language exposure, social interaction and participation development in young children and approaches that promotes rich language environments.

Cognitive Orientation To (Daily) Occupational Performance (Co-Op) Approach And Children With Disabilities, E. Amidon, K. Matteo, K. O'Toole, C. Pistilli, A. Slomowitz, Marie-Christine Potvin

Student Papers, Posters & Projects

There is a growing body of research evidence for the CO-OP approach since first published in 2001. Individual studies such as single case designs have found positive outcomes using this approach, however, no prior systematic reviews exist. Therefore, this review aims to compile and evaluate the efficacy of the CO-OP approach in children with disabilities.

Locomotor Adjustments During Stair Ascent In Children With Down Syndrome: Comparison Between Walking And Crawling Strategies, Huaqing Liang, Jianhua Wu

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Stair negotiation provides an important yet different paradigm to study environment navigation. As one has constantly move himself up while adjusting step length and foot placement due to the stair constraints, this paradigm is ideal to study motor strategy and adaptation in children with and without disabilities. Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic condition and causes significant delays in motor and cognitive development. Children with DS show poor postural control and less efficient gait patterns. When negotiating obstacles, they often select a more conservative strategy (i.e. crawling instead of walking). This study aimed to examine motor strategy and …

Transitioning From Level Surface To Stairs In Children With And Without Down Syndrome: Locomotor Adjustments During Stair Ascent, Huaqing Liang, Xiang Ke, Jianjia Wu

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Background: Children with Down syndrome (DS) often show underdeveloped motor ability and adaptation. Stair ascent is a common task to examine locomotor function and external ankle load is often used to perturb the stability of a system and observe the emergence of new patterns.

Research question: How do stair height and external ankle load affect locomotor adjustments in 5-to-11-year-old children with typical development (TD) and with DS during stair ascent?

Methods: Fourteen children with DS and 14 age- and sex-matched children with TD participated in this study. They walked along a 5-m walkway and ascended 3-step staircases of different heights …

Perceptions Of Applied Behavioral Analysis In Speech-Therapy With Individuals With Autism, Irene Cortez

Theses and Dissertations

Speech language pathologists in the pediatric setting will typically find themselves working with children with autism and implementing behavior management strategies in order to implement the most effective therapy. Many of these behavior management strategies fall under the category of applied behavioral analysis, however applied behavioral analysis is not widely implemented as a whole in speech therapy. This thesis reviews current literature regarding autism, behavior management, and Applied Behavioral Analysis in speech therapy; and how speech language pathologists currently perceive applied behavioral analysis and its usefulness in speech therapy. General findings of this thesis revealed that the majority of speech …

Parent And Child Perspectives: Applying Moho To Assess Inclusion Outcomes In Unified Sports, Lauren Helmig, Hannah Beatty

Occupational Therapy: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

For all children, being a participant in a recreational sports program is important for the well-being and quality of life. Children with disabilities may not always have the same opportunities to engage in sports programs. Unified Sports®, a branch of Special Olympics®, is an inclusive team sports program that aims to break down stereotypes about children with disabilities; however, it lacks documented outcomes. Previous research failed to explore outcomes of co-curricular non-education-based inclusion programs from the perspectives of the two main stakeholders: children with disabilities and their parents. These perspectives are key to analyzing success of current inclusion programs and …

Occupational Therapy Led Handwriting Programs In General Education, Angela Hamel, Collin Skilling

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

PIO: Does integrating occupational therapy led handwriting programs into a classroom’s curriculum improve overall handwriting in all children?

Changes In Reach To Eat Movement Control After Intensive Training For Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy, Yaching Hung, Aryeh D. Spingarn

Publications and Research

Ya Ching Hung EdD. and Aryeh Spingarn EP-C, CSCS, EIM-Level 2 Queens College, City University of New York Department of Family, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences, Changes in Reach to Eat Movement Control After Intensive Training for Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy. Purpose: The current study compares the effects of an intervention on children with Congenital Hemiplegia during a simple eating task using kinematic analyses. Previous studies looked at simple bimanual tasks such as opening a drawer; no studies examined the effects of intensive training on unimanual reach, grasp, and eat movement control. Methods: 20 children with Unilateral Spastic Cerebral Palsy …

Using Foot Pressure Analysis To Predict Reoccurrence Of Deformity For Children With Unilateral Clubfoot, Juanita Jean Wallace

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Reoccurrence of deformity can affect upwards of 64% of children with clubfoot. The ability to use foot function as a measure of reoccurrence has not been previously assessed. The purpose of this investigation was to utilize foot pressure analysis to predict the probability of reoccurrence in children with unilateral clubfoot. Retrospective foot pressure data revealed predictive algorithms detecting the probability of experiencing any type of reoccurrence (overall reoccurrence) and for experiencing a tibialis anterior tendon transfer (TATT). The equation for overall reoccurrence reported sensitivity and specificity of 0.82 and 0.81 and the equation for TATT reported values of 0.81 and …

Motor Competency And Physical Activity In Young Ambassadors Of Physical Education, Wesley Geer, Courtney Norman, Julia Looper

Physical Therapy Research Symposium

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the TGMD-2 can identify the children in the Young Ambassadors (YA) program as competent in their motor skills, and determine if there is a link between the overall physical activity level of the children in YA and their motor competency scores. It was hypothesized that the TGMD-2 would misclassify YA participants as having average motor competence due to their participation in non-traditional motor skills, and that children with higher levels of physical activity would score higher on the TGMD-2.
 12 participants were recruited from the Tacoma Public Schools 2017 YA program. …