Cerebral Palsy Research

• 
  Group Leader
  Professor Dinah Reddihough

  dinah.reddihough@rch.org.au

  View researcher's webpage

  +61 3 9345 5898

Research Overview

Under the campus partnership, our research is embedded in MCRI.  Full research profile may be found at https://www.mcri.edu.au/research/themes/clinical-sciences/developmental-disability-and-rehabilitation-research

Cerebral palsy is the most common physical disability in childhood, occurring in about two per thousand live births. In Australia, there are about 700 new cases each year and a total of 34,000 people have cerebral palsy. Whilst some children only have a movement disorder, for others there may be associated problems including visual and hearing impairment, cognitive disability and a range of health issues including epilepsy, nutritional and respiratory problems. Despite the frequency and severity of cerebral palsy, there remains large gaps in our knowledge of risk factors, causes and best treatments.

Our research program has two aims: 1) to gain an improved understanding of the risk factors and causes of cerebral palsy with the ultimate goal of preventing some cases, and 2) to determine the optimal interventions (therapy, medications, surgery) for them. The ultimate goal is to improve outcomes, participation and quality of life for children with cerebral palsy and their families.

Staff

• Dr Kylie Crompton
• Ms Tessa Devries
• Ms Angela Guzys
• Dr Adrienne Harvey
• Ms Alex Holland
• Ms Elaine Meehan
• Ms Clare McKinnon
• Ms Linda McNamara
• Dr Carmen Pace
• Dr Sue Reid
• Dr Kirsty Stewart
• Ms Rachel Toovey
• Dr Kate Willoughby
• A/Professor Adam Scheinberg
• Ms Christine Westbury

Collaborators

• Australian Catholic University
• CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research
• Cerebral Palsy Alliance
• Deakin University
• La Trobe University
• Monash Health
• University of Sydney
• University of Western Australia
• Yooralla

Funding

• Cerebral Palsy Alliance
• Ian Potter Foundation
• Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
• National Health and Medical Research Council
• The Lorenzo and Pamela Galli Charitable Trust
• The Royal Children's Hospital Foundation
• Victorian Medical Insurance Agency

Research Publications

Since 2013-

• Davis E: Mackinnon A; Davern M; Boyd R; Bohanna I; Waters E; H.K Graham; Reid S; Reddihough D. Description and psychometric properties of the CP QOL-Teen: a quality of life questionnaire for adolescents with cerebral palsy. Research in Developmental Disabilities 2013; 34: 344-352.
• Randall M, Harvey A, Imms C, Reid S, Lee KJ, Reddihough D. Reliable classification of functional profiles and movement disorders of children with cerebral palsy. Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics. Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics. 2013; 33(3): 342-352. 114.
  
  Harvey A, Randall M, Reid S, Lee K, Imms C, Rodda J, Eldridge B, Orsini F, Reddihough D. (2013). Children with cerebral palsy and periventricular white matter injury: does gestational age affect functional outcome? Research in Developmental Disabilities. 34(9):2500-2506
• Reddihough DS, Jiang B, Lanigan A, Reid SM, Walstab J, Davis E.  Social outcomes of young adults with cerebral palsy.  Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 2013: 38(3):215-222.
• Burns F, Stewart R, Reddihough D, Scheinberg A, Ooi K, Graham HK. The cerebral palsy transition clinic: administrative chore, clinical responsibility, or opportunity for audit and clinical research? J.Child Orthop. 2014;8(3) 203-213.
• Gilson K-M, Davis E, Reddihough D, Graham K. & Waters E. Quality of Life in Children with Cerebral Palsy: Implications for Practice. Journal of Child Neurology (Special Issue on Innovation in the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy: A 21st century view). Journal of Child Neurology.  2014:29(8):1134-40.
• Mei C, Reilly S, Reddihough D, Mensah, F, Morgan A.  Motor speech impairment, activity and participation in children with cerebral palsy. Int J Speech Lang Path 2014, 16(4):427-35.
• Sherwell S, Reid SM, Reddihough DS, Ong B, Wrennall J, Stargatt R. Measuring intellectual ability in children with cerebral palsy: can we do better?
  Research in Developmental Disabilities 2014. 35:2558-2667.
  
  Imms C, Novak I, Kerr C, Shields N, Randall M, Harvey A, Graham HK, Reddihough DS.  Improving allied health professionals' research implementation behaviours for children with cerebral palsy: protocol for before-after study.  Implementation Science. 2015, 10:16.  DOI: 10.1186/s13012-014-0202-0
• Mei C, Reilly S, Reddihough D, Mensah F, Green J, Pennington L, Morgan A. Activities and participation of children with cerebral palsy; parent perspectives. Disability and Rehabilitation, 2015; 37(23): 2164-73.
• Petersen S, Harvey A, Reddihough D, Newall F. Children with cerebral palsy; why are they awake at night? Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing 2015; vol.20(2), pp.98-104.
• Iannelli M, Harvey A, O’Neill J, Reddihough DS. Parental satisfaction with inpatient care of children with cerebral palsy. J Paediatr Child Health 2015 May 4. doi: 10.1111/jpc.12908.
• Mei C, Reilly S, Reddihough D, Mensah, F, Morgan A.  Language outcomes of children with cerebral palsy aged 5 and 6 years: a population-based study. Dev Med Child Neurol.  2016;58(6):605-611.
• Pascoe J, Thomason P, Graham HK, Reddihough D, Sabin MA. Body mass index in ambulatory children with cerebral palsy: a cohort study. J Paediatr Child Health. 2016;52(4):417-421.
• Graham HK, Rosenbaum P, Paneth N, Dan B, Lin JP, Lieber R, Damiano D, Becher J, Gaebler-Spira D, Colver A, Reddihough D, Crompton K, Lieber RL.  Cerebral Palsy.  Nature      Reviews Disease Primers 2016. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2015.82.
  
  Jiang B, Walstab J, Reid SM, Davis E, Reddihough D.  Quality of life in young adults with cerebral palsy. Disabil Health J 2016 9(4):673-681.
• Imms C, Wallen  M, Elliott C, Hoare B, Randall M, Greaves S, Adair B, Bradshaw E, Carter R, Orsini  F, Shih  S, Reddihough  D. Minimising impairment: Protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial of upper limb orthoses for children with cerebral palsy. BMC Pediatr 2016, 16:70.  DOI: 10.1186/s12887-016-0608-8.
• Andersen EW, Leventer RJ, Reddihough DS, Davis MR, Ryan MM.  Cerebral palsy is not a diagnosis: A case report of a novel atlastin-1 mutation. J.Paediatr Child Health. 2016;52(6):669-670.