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Does gastrostomy improve the lives of children with severe disability and their families?Approximately 13,000 children in Australia live with moderate to severe intellectual disability.
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Towards evidence based care for Rett syndrome: a research model to inform management of rare disordersHelen Jenny Leonard Downs MBChB MPH BApplSci (physio) MSc PhD Principal Research Fellow Head, Child Disability +61 419 956 946 08 6319 1763

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Research enriching the lives of girls with Rett syndromeA program developed by The Kids Research Institute Australia researcher Dr Jenny Downs has led to dramatic improvements in the functioning of Chinese children with Rett syndrome, and could change the world.
Research
Cause-Specific Secular Trends and Prevention Measures of Post-Neonatally Acquired Cerebral Palsy in Victoria and Western Australia 1975–2014: A Population-Based Observational StudyTo describe the timing and causes of post-neonatally acquired cerebral palsy (PNN-CP) and map the implementation of relevant preventive strategies against cause-specific temporal trends in prevalence.
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International workshop: what is needed to ensure outcome measures for Rett syndrome are fit-for-purpose for clinical trials? June 7, 2023, Nashville, USAThe clinical, research and advocacy communities for Rett syndrome are striving to achieve clinical trial readiness, including having fit-for-purpose clinical outcome assessments. This study aimed to (1) describe psychometric properties of clinical outcome assessment for Rett syndrome and (2) identify what is needed to ensure that fit-for-purpose clinical outcome assessments are available for clinical trials.
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Psychometric evaluation of clinician- and caregiver-reported clinical severity assessments for individuals with CDKL5 deficiency disorderThe CDKL5 Clinical Severity Assessment is a comprehensive, content-validated measurement tool capturing the diverse challenges of cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 deficiency disorder, a genetically caused developmental epileptic encephalopathy. The CCSA is divided into clinician-reported and caregiver-reported assessments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the factor structure of these measures through confirmatory factor analysis and evaluate their validity and reliability.
Research
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Early Irritability as a Transdiagnostic Neurodevelopmental Vulnerability to Later Mental Health ProblemsIrritability is a transdiagnostic indicator of child and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems that is measurable from early life. The objective of this systematic review was to determine the strength of the association between irritability measured from 0 to 5 years and later internalizing and externalizing problems, to identify mediators and moderators of these relationships, and to explore whether the strength of the association varied according to irritability operationalization.