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2006 Research Grant Awarded

The NDTA is pleased to announce that Gay Girolami, PT, MS, is the recipient of the 2005-2006 NDTA Small Grant Award. Ms. Girolami will be using the award funds to conduct a study titled “Comparison of Anticipatory Postural Adjustments in Children with Cerebral Palsy and Their Non-disabled Peers” in conjunction with Alexander Aruin, PhD. The study will be conducted over the next year at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The aim of the study is to increase knowledge of the anticipatory (feedforward) postural adjustments used by children with cerebral palsy and typically developing children to counteract self-generated motions that disturb balance. The study will focus on the postural adjustments necessary to maintain balance during activities such as catching, throwing, reaching, and arm swinging. The study hypothesis is that children with cerebral palsy will exhibit anticipatory postural adjustments during the activities, but that the patterns and amount of muscle recruitment will be different and/or more variable than those of typically developing children of the same age and gender. This study is designed to serve as a foundation for the development and refinement of interventions to improve balance and postural control in children with cerebral palsy.

The NDTA Small Grant Award program was started 1990. The grant program is designed to fund research that supports the development of NDT-related interventions or theory. The maximum amount awarded per study is $5000 with the hope that these smaller studies will lead to larger amounts of research funding from other sources.

Congratulations to Ms. Girolami! We look forward to hearing the results of this important research.