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The Sibling Project focuses on the wellbeing, relationships and needs of children, adolescents and emerging adults who have a sibling with a developmental disability.
Developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE) conditions are rare, and most have a genetic cause.
Principal Research Fellow
PhD Candidate
Jenny Downs BApplSci (physio) MSc PhD Head, Child Disability 08 6319 1763 Jenny.Downs@thekids.org.au Head, Child Disability Areas of research
The Rett Syndrome Behaviour Questionnaire (RSBQ) describes behavioural and emotional features. This study investigated total RSBQ score trajectories and their clustering, and for trajectory groups, relationships with genotype and mobility, weight-for-age z scores, and seizure frequency.
In children with Rett syndrome, this study aimed to (1) describe gross motor skill trajectories; and (2) analyse the influences of genetic variant and comorbidities. This was a prospective longitudinal study conducted at the Danish National Center for Rett Syndrome 2008 to 2022. The Rett Syndrome Gross Motor Scale (RSGMS) was administered, and clinical data collected at each visit.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is characterised by a range of neurodevelopmental deficits that may increase risks of justice system involvement. Improving our understanding of criminogenic risk factors and particularly the role of informant-rated executive functioning (EF) in predicting the age of offending onset in this clinical population may reduce recidivism and help inform targeted interventions.
This pre-registered systematic review synthesised and evaluated the existing literature on self-reported mental health and wellbeing of siblings of individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions.
Respiratory disease is a leading cause of morbidity, mortality, and poor quality of life in children with cerebral palsy (CP). This study describes the prevalence of CP-related respiratory disease and the non-modifiable risk factors for respiratory-related hospital admissions in the Aotearoa New Zealand population.