Teachers College - Columbia University: Center for Cerebral Palsy Research

Annoucements

In July we completed our 25th hand training camp, with more than 150 children participating since 2002. Ten children from as far away as Greece participated. We expanded our projects to include teenagers and children with other forms of CP. Our next camp will be a bimanual training (HABIT) and CIMT day camp for children age 6-17, June 23 - July 12, 2013. PARTICIPATION IS FREE BUT SPACE IS LIMITED! CONTACT US NOW.
We have developed a NEW PROJECT for younger participants age 1.5 to 5 years whereby we train caregivers to provide these hand treatments in their own home. This project takes place throughout the year. Contact us if you would like to be considered for any of these projects.
Dr. Gordon was a keynote speaker at the International Cerebral Palsy Conference in Pisa, Italy in October. In July he had the distinct pleasure of presenting and meeting parents at the CHASA family retreat in Arlington Texas. He has agreed to serve as a "hand expert" and answer queries regarding hand function in CP. He was recently inducted as a fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology.
Marina Brandao, OT, successfully defended her PhD dissertation in May, 2012 at the Federal University, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She has been intimately involved in our CP camps since 2007. Electra Petra, a former evaluator and camp supervisor, defended her dissertation in 2011. Congratulations to both!.
We continue to collaborate on a project in Belgium involving a sleep-over HABIT camp, with the second camp held this summer. The camp expanded focus to include the lower extremity. Our camp supervisor, Marina Brandao, PhD, also conducted a camp in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in July. We also collaborated a group in Tel Aviv and London on "Magic" theme-based HABIT camps.
Finally, we have begun intensive speech treatments for children with CP. Please contact us if you are interested.

Download our new brochure

Click here for a link to an article about our summer camps.

In 2011 we published the report of a trial in Neurorehabilitation & Neurorepair comparing CIMT to bimanual training (HABIT). 42 children participated From July 2007 through July 2009. Thank you to all those who participated. We are excited to report that there was no consequence of providing intensive training without the use of physical upper extremity restraints--CIMT and bimanual training (HABIT) resulted in equal improvements in most clinical domains. However, in two other publications it was reported that HABIT may have an advantage in making progress on goals identified as important by children and caregivers (forthcoming), and in improving bimanual coordination determined in our state-of-the-art movement analysis lab.

Dr. Kathleen Friel, who is leading our TMS plasticity project, received the 2012 Gayle Arnold Best Paper Award from the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. This is the second award to our group, with the first being in 2007 (pictured below) for a paper describing the initial development of HABIT.

The Center for Cerebral Palsy Research was founded in 1996 and is committed to understanding the mechanisms underlying the symptoms of cerebral palsy and developing evidence-based treatment approaches targeting these symptoms. The Center is a non-profit organization located at Teachers College, Columbia University, a leading institution of Education, Health and Psychology. Our Center is committed to improving the lives of children with cerebral palsy through research. These include both speech and motor disorders associated with CP.

Impaired hand function is one of the most disabling symptoms of hemiplegic cerebral palsy, affecting self-care activities such as feeding, dressing, and grooming. We have been studying the mechanisms underlying the impaired hand function in cerebral palsy since 1991. Based on this knowledge, we developed and began studying the efficacy of intensive rehabilitation techniques in 1997 and more than 150 children have participated. Presently we are testing the efficacy of two cutting-edge interventions, Constraint-Induced Therapy (CIT) and Hand-Arm Bimanual Intensive Therapy (HABIT), on involved hand and arm function in children with hemiplegia. We are also collaborating on a robotic assistive hand training project. We are hopeful that these interventions will improve hand function in children with hemiplegia. Participation is free and will help aid our understanding of the optimal ingredients and dosage of successful rehabilitation with the hope that this information will improve rehabilitation services for all children with cerebral palsy.

We are also beginning to conduct studies on speech intelligibility, and expect to start clinical trials of speech treatments in the near future.

Some projects take place throughout the year, including INDIVIDUAL CIT and HABIT using modified schedules (several hours per week). CIT and HABIT CAMPS are generally held during school recess. Our next camp will be June 23- July 12, 2013. We are also conducting a project on home-training in children 18 months to 4 years of age (see announcements). We are taking names/info of potential participants so contact us now if you would like to be considered for any of these projects.

We have been funded by the National Institutes of Health, United Cerebral Palsy Research & Education Foundation, the Thrasher Research Fund and the generous donations of people who share our hope.