Expectations and Assumptions: Examining the Influence of Staff Culture on a Novel School-Based Intervention to Enable Risky Play for Children with Disabilities.

Risky play is challenging, exciting play with the possibility of physical, social, or emotional harm. Through risky play, children learn, develop, and experience wellbeing. Children with disabilities have fewer opportunities than their typically developing peers to engage in this beneficial type of play.

Creating play opportunities on the school playground: Educator experiences of the Sydney playground project.

Introduction: Children with disabilities often experience unsupportive environments that restrict their play opportunities and inclusion on the school playground. This exclusion can perpetuate inequities for children with disabilities, with lifelong implications. The Sydney Playground Project uses a simple, innovative intervention consisting of placing recycled materials on the playground and engaging parents and educators in risk reframing sessions to create increased playground choice, control, independence and inclusion for all children.

Construct Validity and Test-Retest Reliability of the Coping Inventory (CI) for Children With Developmental Disabilities.

Objective: A reliable, valid, and readily usable method of measuring coping is essential for occupational therapy practitioners and researchers working with children with developmental disabilities. The aim of this study was to examine evidence for the construct validity and internal and test-retest reliability of the Coping Inventory (CI), a 48-item survey designed for use with children.

Method: School staff (N = 39) completed CIs for 79 students with developmental disabilities age 5-13 yr (mean = 8.

Sydney Playground Project: A Cluster-Randomized Trial to Increase Physical Activity, Play, and Social Skills.

Background: We assessed the effectiveness of a simple intervention for increasing children's physical activity, play, perceived competence/social acceptance, and social skills.

Methods: A cluster-randomized controlled trial was conducted, in which schools were the clusters. Twelve Sydney (Australia) primary schools were randomly allocated to intervention or control conditions, with 226 children (5-7 years old) selected randomly to participate.

The development of a framework for high-quality, sustainable and accessible rural private therapy under the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Purpose: The Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will provide people with individual funding with which to purchase services such as therapy from private providers. This study developed a framework to support rural private therapists to meet the anticipated increase in demand.

Method: The study consisted of three stages utilizing focus groups, interviews and an online expert panel.

The Sydney playground project--levelling the playing field: a cluster trial of a primary school-based intervention aiming to promote manageable risk-taking in children with disability.

Background: Providing children and adults with opportunities to engage in manageable risk taking may be a stepping stone toward closing the gap in life conditions currently experienced by young people with disabilities. We aim to demonstrate the effectiveness of a simple, innovative program for 1) changing the way parents and teachers view manageable risk-taking for children with disabilities and 2) increasing the level of responsibility that children take for their own actions, as seen on the school playground.

Methods/design: We will employ a cluster repeated measures trial with six Sydney-area primary-school-based programs for children with disabilities.

Increasing physical activity in young primary school children--it's child's play: a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To explore the effects of an innovative school-based intervention for increasing physical activity.

Methods: 226 children (5-7 years old) randomly selected from 12 Australian primary schools were recruited to a cluster randomised trial with schools randomly allocated to intervention or control conditions. The 13-week intervention comprised: (1) altering the school playground by introducing loose materials and (2) a teacher-parent intervention exploring perceptions of risk associated with children's free play.

The Sydney playground project: popping the bubblewrap--unleashing the power of play: a cluster randomized controlled trial of a primary school playground-based intervention aiming to increase children's physical activity and social skills.

Background: In the Westernised world, numerous children are overweight and have problems with bullying and mental health. One of the underlying causes for all three is postulated to be a decrease in outdoor free play. The aim of the Sydney Playground Project is to demonstrate the effectiveness of two simple interventions aimed to increase children's physical activity and social skills.

Playful interaction: occupational therapy for all children on the school playground.

We examined the impact of an intervention on the playfulness of 5- to 7-year-old children who are developing typically. Materials that had no defined purpose were placed on a school playground for 11 weeks. The Test of Playfulness (ToP) was used to compare videotaped play segments pre- and postintervention.