Clinical Research Directory

Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Skills on Wheels

Manual wheelchairs (MWCs) are widely used by children with physical disabilities, yet many of these children are unable to use their wheelchair independently. Instead, they depend on others to push them. This dependency results in limited opportunities to decide what they want to do and where they want to go, leading to learned helplessness, social isolation, decreased participation, and restricted involvement in physical activities. Furthermore, unsafe MWC use increases the risk of injury, as highlighted by the 44,300 children treated each year in emergency departments for MWC-related injuries. While independent MWC mobility can positively influence quality of life, MWC skills training must also be provided to promote safe, independent MWC use. The effectiveness of MWC training programs for adults is well established, yet the current standard-of-care does not include MWC skills training for children and research regarding the efficacy of pediatric MWC skills training programs is limited. Skills on Wheels seeks to address these gaps and provide pilot data for a future large-scale, multi-site research project involving a randomized controlled trial. Aim 1 is to explore the influence of Skills on Wheels on children's MWC skills and confidence in their MWC use. Aim 2 is to investigate the influence of Skills on Wheels on children's psychosocial skills, social participation, and adaptive behavior.

Video-based Assessment of Preschool Children's Gross Motor Development

Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently one of the global focal points for industrial development, with its applications in healthcare steadily increasing, such as in disease prediction, image diagnosis, and drug development. AI assists healthcare professionals in clinical decision-making by training relevant models through algorithms, thereby enhancing medical efficiency and quality. Currently, standardized tools are used in clinical settings to screen and assess various aspects of child development. Children's motor development levels are determined by comparing their performance against established norms. However, the current assessment methods primarily rely on on-site visual observation and recording by evaluators, which demands significant time and human resources. This research aims to establish an automated screening tool for gross motor development in early intervention, suitable for independently walking children aged one to six years old in Taiwan. The goal is to reduce the time cost of manual assessment and enable remote healthcare applications.

Daily and Weekly Rehabilitation Delivery for Young Children With Gross Motor Delays

The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal frequency and intensity of physical therapy for children with cerebral palsy aged 6 to 24 months of age. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: daily, intermediate, or weekly physical therapy. Short and long term effects will be evaluated to determine the best 'dose' of rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy, including frequency (number of sessions per week and the number of weeks), intensity (how hard the patient works), and time (how many total hours) of rehabilitation treatment.