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New measure of Gross Motor Function for children with cerebral palsy

Published: Monday, February 1st, 2016

Our director Dr Heather Epps recently met with Dr Virginia Wright from Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, Canada, who leads the SPARK (Supporting Physical Activity-based rehabilitation Research for Kids) Lab in the Bloorview Research Institute. Dr Wright holds the Bloorview Children’s Hospital Foundation Chair in Paediatric Rehabilitation (2012- 2017). She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Toronto and an Associate Member of CanChild, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada. She has been instrumental in the development of a new measure of Gross Motor Function for children with cerebral palsy, The QualityFM ; Heather said ‘I am very excited about this new outcome tool as it will measure change in children whose Gross Motor Functional Measure (GMFM) may remain the same and is therefore more meaningful in directing therapy and evaluating its outcome as well as post interventions such as SDR, DBS, Botulinum Toxin injections and orthopaedic surgery for both the child and their family.’ Heather is now working towards becoming a certified assessor and administrator of this measure.