Professor Jane Valentine

Genomic testing pathways for precision health in cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy is a diagnosis based on clinical signs and not aetiology or pathology, with only ~50% of children receiving a clinical diagnosis in the first year of life; limiting the opportunity for intervention where maximal neuronal plasticity may occur.

Active Strides-CP: Randomised trial of Intensive Rehabilitation (combined Intensive gait and cycling training) for children with moderate to severe bilateral cerebral palsy

Active Strides-CP is an RCT assessing a new treatment for children with moderate to severe CP, combining intensive gait and cycling training to simultaneously address motor and participation outcomes.

Accelerate-WA Network: Developing a sustainable family-clinician-researcher network for education and training in the early detection of cerebral palsy for all infants in Western Australia

Accelerate will develop and pilot, a multi-directorate teaching and training network for early detection of cerebral palsy (CP), encompassing key clinical partners across CAHS and WACHS.

ENVISAGE – ENabling VISions And Growing Expectations

ENVISAGE is a validated evidence-based program of facilitated group workshops for parents and carers of young children, aged 0-8 years, with a newly identified disability or who have concerns regarding their child’s development.

CP Movetime: A wearable sensor and user interface to reduce sedentary behaviours in non-ambulant children and youth with cerebral palsy

CP Movetime aims to establish and test a technology-based application to improve health outcomes by monitoring device measured sedentary behaviours in non-ambulant children and youth with cerebral palsy.

Early Moves

The Early Moves study is investigating whether a baby’s early movements can predict difficulties with learning (known as cognitive impairment) later in childhood.

Functional outcomes in children and adolescents with neurodisability accessing music therapy: A scoping review

To determine the evidence for functional outcomes experienced by a population with paediatric neurodisability (such as acquired brain injury, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, and other neurological disorders), who access music therapy through neurorehabilitation services across the rehabilitation spectrum. 

Fine-grained Fidgety Movement Classification using Active Learning

Typically developing infants, between the corrected age of 9-20 weeks, produce fidgety movements. These movements can be identified with the General Movement Assessment, but their identification requires trained professionals to conduct the assessment from video recordings.

Behavior Change Techniques Involved in Physical Activity Interventions for Children with Chronic Conditions: A Systematic Review

Behavior change techniques (BCTs) have been extensively used in physical activity interventions for children, however, no systematic reviews have synthesized their effects.

Clinical Phenotype in Individuals With Birk-Landau-Perez Syndrome Associated With Biallelic SLC30A9 Pathogenic Variants

Birk-Landau-Perez syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in SLC30A9 presenting with a complex movement disorder, developmental regression, oculomotor abnormalities, and renal impairment. It has previously been reported in 2 families. We describe the clinical phenotype of 8 further individuals from 4 unrelated families with SLC30A9-related disease.

Robust and Interpretable General Movement Assessment Using Fidgety Movement Detection

Fidgety movements occur in infants between the age of 9 to 20 weeks post-term, and their absence are a strong indicator that an infant has cerebral palsy. Prechtl's General Movement Assessment method evaluates whether an infant has fidgety movements, but requires a trained expert to conduct it. Timely evaluation facilitates early interventions, and thus computer-based methods have been developed to aid domain experts. 

Outcomes following intensive day rehabilitation for young people in Western Australia

Intensive rehabilitation aims to improve and maintain functioning in young people who experience disability due to illness or injury. Day rehabilitation may have advantages for families and healthcare systems over inpatient models of rehabilitation. 

Profiling the Longitudinal Development of Babbling in Infants with Cerebral Palsy: Validation of the Infant Monitor of Vocal Production (IMP) Using the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development-Revised (SAEVD-R)

We compared early vocal development in children "at risk" for cerebral palsy (CP) with typically developing (TD) infants aged 6 to 15 months using the SAEVD-R, investigating potential pre-linguistic markers of communication impairment. Additionally, we sought to examine the agreement between the SAEVD-R and IMP, which uses parent report, in identifying departure from typical vocal development in at-risk infants.

Kindy Moves: the feasibility of an intensive interdisciplinary programme on goal and motor outcomes for preschool-aged children with neurodisabilities requiring daily equipment and physical assistance

To determine the feasibility of an intensive interdisciplinary programme in improving goal and motor outcomes for preschool-aged children with non-progressive neurodisabilities. The primary hypothesis was that the intervention would be feasible.

ACTIVE STRIDES-CP: Protocol for a randomised trial of intensive rehabilitation (combined intensive gait and cycling training) for children with moderate-to-severe bilateral cerebral palsy

For children with cerebral palsy (CP), who are marginally ambulant, gross motor capacity peaks between 6 and 7 years of age with a subsequent clinical decline, impacting their ability to engage in physical activity. Active Strides-CP is a novel package of physiotherapy targeting body functions, activity and participation outcomes for children with bilateral CP. This study will compare Active Strides-CP to usual care in a multisite randomised waitlist-controlled trial.

Harnessing neuroplasticity to improve motor performance in infants with cerebral palsy: A study protocol for the GAME randomised controlled trial

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common physical disability of childhood worldwide. Historically the diagnosis was made between 12 and 24 months, meaning data about effective early interventions to improve motor outcomes are scant. In high-income countries, two in three children will walk. This evaluator-blinded randomised controlled trial will investigate the efficacy of an early and sustained Goals-Activity-Motor Enrichment approach to improve motor and cognitive skills in infants with suspected or confirmed CP.

Implementation of an Early Communication Intervention for Young Children with Cerebral Palsy Using Single-Subject Research Design

The implementation of an intervention protocol aimed at increasing vocal complexity in three pre-linguistic children with cerebral palsy (two males, starting age 15 months, and one female, starting age 16 months) was evaluated utilising a repeated ABA case series design. The study progressed until the children were 36 months of age. Weekly probes with trained and untrained items were administered across each of three intervention blocks.

From guidelines to practice: A retrospective clinical cohort study investigating implementation of the early detection guidelines for cerebral palsy in a state-wide early intervention service

To report on knowledge translation strategies and outcomes from the implementation of the early detection guidelines for cerebral palsy (CP) in a state-wide tertiary early intervention (EI) service and investigate the impact of social determinants on clinical services.

Clinical utilisation of the Infant Monitor of vocal Production (IMP) for early identification of communication impairment in young infants at-risk of cerebral palsy: a prospective cohort study

Aim: To report prospective longitudinal data of early vocaliszations of infants identified “at-risk” of cerebral palsy (CP) for early identification of communication impairment.  This case-control longitudinal prospective cohort study reports on the assessment of 36 infants.