A Collaborative Model for Pediatric Clinical Education: From Design to Implementation.

Background And Purpose: Collaborative clinical education models where 2 or more students are supervised by one clinical instructor in a clinical setting effectively support student learning and self-confidence. Use of collaborative models in specialized clinical education settings has not been widely adopted. This paper explores using Kern's 6-step approach to develop and implement a collaborative clinical education model.

An exploration of the relationship between grit, reflection-in-learning, and academic performance in entry-level doctor of physical therapy students.

Introduction: Recent literature in physical therapy education suggests learners' non-cognitive skills, such as grit and reflection, may be predictors of success. Little is known about the relationship of these constructs to each other or success during the first year of entry level physical therapist education.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between Reflection-In- Learning Scale (RLS), grit, and grade point average (GPA) of entry-level physical therapy students during the first year of didactic instruction.

Current Trends for Children With Spina Bifida: A Survey of Pediatric Physical Therapists.

Purpose: To describe contemporary physical therapy practice and management of children with spina bifida (SB) in the context of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework.

Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional electronic survey was sent to US pediatric physical therapy clinics and posted in the American Physical Therapy Association Pediatrics newsletter. Data were analyzed using content analysis.

Relationship between Movement Quality, Functional Ambulation Status, and Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters in Children with Myelomeningocele.

Aims: We investigated relationships among the Pediatric Neuromuscular Recovery Scale (Peds NRS), modified Hoffer Scale, and spatiotemporal gait parameters in children with myelomeningocele (MMC).

Methods: 21 children with MMC, age 5.3 years (SD = 2.

Interrater Reliability of the Pediatric Neuromuscular Recovery Scale for Spinal Cord Injury.

In synergy with the mounting scientific evidence for the capacity of recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) and training, new evidence-based therapies advancing neuromuscular recovery are emerging. There is a parallel need for outcome instruments that specifically address recovery. The Pediatric Neuromuscular Recovery Scale (Pediatric NRS) is one example with established content validity to assess neuromuscular capacity within task performance.

Gross Motor Outcomes After Dynamic Weight-Bearing in 2 Children With Trunk Hypotonia: A Case Series.

Introduction: Children with trunk hypotonia may have limited ability to maintain an upright weight-bearing position, resulting in decreased postural control and a delay in achieving gross motor milestones.

Purpose: The purpose of this case series is to report the effect of a home-based dynamic standing program on postural control and gross motor activity in 2 children with trunk hypotonia.

Descriptions: Child 1 (aged 24 months, Gross Motor Function Classification Scale Level IV) and Child 2 (aged 21 months, Gross Motor Function Classification Scale Level V) participated in a standing program using the Upsee harness at home 3 days per week for 12 weeks.

Activity-Based Therapy: From Basic Science to Clinical Application for Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury.

Background And Purpose: Collaboration between scientists and clinicians effectively accelerated translation of scientific evidence for activity-based therapies (ABTs) into rehabilitation. This article addresses the basic scientific findings of activity-dependent plasticity that led to locomotor training, an ABT, and its principles to advance recovery in adult and pediatric populations with spinal cord injury (SCI). Expansion to new therapies based on these common principles is highlighted, for example, epidural stimulation.

Development and Initial Validation of the Pediatric Neuromuscular Recovery Scale.

Purpose: The Neuromuscular Recovery Scale (NRS) was developed to assess the capacity of adults' post-spinal cord injury (SCI) to perform functional tasks without compensation. Application of the NRS to children has been challenging. The purpose of this study was to develop and complete the initial validation of a pediatric version of the NRS.

Assessment of Functional Improvement without Compensation for Human Spinal Cord Injury: Extending the Neuromuscular Recovery Scale to the Upper Extremities.

The Neuromuscular Recovery Scale (NRS) is a tool for measuring functional recovery in spinal cord injured (SCI) persons based on tasks that test pre-injury functional capability. The NRS has been shown to be a valid, reliable, and responsive instrument for measuring functional recovery. The NRS has been updated to include three items measuring upper extremity function, and a new scoring mechanism has been defined.

Validity of the Neuromuscular Recovery Scale: a measurement model approach.

Objective: To determine how well the Neuromuscular Recovery Scale (NRS) items fit the Rasch, 1-parameter, partial-credit measurement model.

Design: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and principal components analysis (PCA) of residuals were used to determine dimensionality. The Rasch, 1-parameter, partial-credit rating scale model was used to determine rating scale structure, person/item fit, point-measure item correlations, item discrimination, and measurement precision.

Restorative rehabilitation entails a paradigm shift in pediatric incomplete spinal cord injury in adolescence: an illustrative case series.

Physical rehabilitation after spinal cord injury (SCI) in adult and pediatric populations has traditionally compensated for paralysis and weakness using wheelchairs, assistive devices, and braces to achieve seated mobility, upright standing, or bracewalking. Recent evidence indicates efficacy of activity-based therapies in adults with SCI, specifically locomotor training (LT), to activate the neuromuscular system below the injury level and improve walking and postural control by restoring pre-morbid movements. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of LT, using repetitive stepping practice on a treadmill and translated to over ground and the community, to meet the unique needs and demands of pediatric, adolescent rehabilitation.

Locomotor training: as a treatment of spinal cord injury and in the progression of neurologic rehabilitation.

Scientists, clinicians, administrators, individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), and caregivers seek a common goal: to improve the outlook and general expectations of the adults and children living with neurologic injury. Important strides have already been accomplished; in fact, some have labeled the changes in neurologic rehabilitation a "paradigm shift." Not only do we recognize the potential of the damaged nervous system, but we also see that "recovery" can and should be valued and defined broadly.

Assessment of functional improvement without compensation reduces variability of outcome measures after human spinal cord injury.

Objective: To develop a scale (Neuromuscular Recovery Scale [NRS]) for classification of functional motor recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) based on preinjury movement patterns that would reduce variability of the populations' level of function within each class, because assessment of functional improvement after SCI is problematic as a result of high variability of the populations' level of function and the insensitivity to change within the available outcome measures.

Design: Prospective observational cohort with longitudinal follow-up.

Setting: Seven outpatient rehabilitation centers from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network (NRN).

The ABLE scale: the development and psychometric properties of an outcome measure for the spinal cord injury population.

Background: A paucity of information exists on the psychometric properties of several balance outcome measures. With the exception of the Modified Functional Reach Test, none of these balance outcome measures were developed specifically for the population with spinal cord injury (SCI). A new balance assessment tool for people with SCI, the Activity-based Balance Level Evaluation (ABLE scale), was developed and tested.

A multivariate examination of temporal changes in Berg Balance Scale items for patients with ASIA Impairment Scale C and D spinal cord injuries.

Objective: To provide a multivariate examination of the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) as a first step in developing a balance tool for the SCI population.

Design: Observational cohort.

Setting: The NeuroRecovery Network (NRN), a specialized network of treatment centers providing standardized, activity-based therapy for patients with SCI.