The purpose of the proposed research summit is to foster development of large scale or multi-site research proposals to address thresholds for effective frequency, intensity, and duration of interventions (dosing) for children with injured brains or cerebral palsy (CP) and to enhance the research capacity of pediatric physical therapists. We will invite an interdisciplinary cadre of researchers (physical therapists, basic- and clinical scientists), representatives from funding agencies, and parents to an intensive 2.5-day think-tank. The summit will be structured to: provide theoretical scientific overview of the problem juxtaposed with real-world concerns for these children and their families, integrate concepts with practical issues of formulating scientific questions and approaches to explore dosing, and develop action plans for second generation research priorities in this area. We theorize that investing time and training to pediatric physical therapy researchers will result in significant gains in research productivity and ultimately the care and treatment of children with injured brains or CP. Indeed previous summits, using these approaches have been quite successful.
The proposed project targets a critical and more pressing aspect of intervention that is pivotal to treatment efficacy and how treatments influence outcome in children with disabilities. It also targets physical therapist researchers, a group that lags behind other researchers in the area of pediatrics. The interdisciplinary approach to the problems of dosing of interventions and investing time and training to pediatric physical therapy researchers will not only result in significant gains in research productivity, but also ultimately in the care and treatment of children with injured brains or CP.
