Heidi Schwellnus

Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital · Collaborative Practice

Background: The ultimate goal of therapeutic intervention is meaningful participation in one’s world. For people with Cerebral Palsy (CP), limitations can often become a focus of care. Aim: Our purpose was to investigate the impact of a Solution-Focused Coaching intervention designed for pediatric rehabilitation (SFC-peds) on the attainment of part...

Background: Canadian hospitals are not currently prepared to meet the psychosocial needs of children with disabilities as services are rooted in a biomedical care model. Objective: To describe a practical and holistic framework for pediatric rehabilitation hospitals to meet the health care needs of children and their families. Method: An environmen...

Aims: This qualitative descriptive study explored perceived impacts of solution-focused coaching in pediatric rehabilitation (SFC-peds) from the viewpoint of experienced therapists. Methods: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with six participants (four occupational therapists and two physical therapists) who had incorporated SFC-pe...

Introduction Children with physical disabilities are rarely included in interventions to promote healthy lifestyles, despite being at higher risk for suboptimal dietary and physical activity behaviours. The Children and Teens in Charge of their Health study explores the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a randomised controlled trial (RCT)...

Aim: Client engagement is assumed to affect therapy outcomes. This study examined service providers' perceptions of youth engagement in solution-focused coaching sessions focusing on participation-oriented goals for youth with cerebral palsy. Method: Service providers completed the Pediatric Rehabilitation Intervention Measure of Engagement-Serv...

Aims: A qualitative study was conducted to investigate family experiences and outcomes of Solution-Focused Coaching in pediatric rehabilitation (SFC-peds). Methods: Two interviews (5 months apart) were conducted with nine sets of family members who had received SFC-peds, within the past 6 months, from therapists with 3-10 years of experience usi...

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a coaching intervention (Solution-Focused Coaching in pediatric rehabilitation [SFC-Peds]) related to physical activity and diet in males with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Methods: A pre-post design was employed. Participants had five coaching sessions over 8 weeks. The first session was...

Aims: To explore parents' perceptions of their youth's transition from rehabilitation to school following an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and how physiotherapy influenced the youth's participation and physical function during the transition. Methods: The study utilized phenomenological qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews with...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore how children aged 10–18 years describe their neuropathic pain (NP). Method: This is a qualitative descriptive study using inductive content analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight children, aged 10–18 years with varying diagnoses, who were experiencing NP. Results: All children we...

Aims: The results of a small single-case study series suggested that Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) may be a successful approach for children with cerebral palsy (CP). Therefore a pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted with the following research questions-is CO-OP a feasible approach to use with children...

Purpose: Coaching is mainstream in business and is expanding into paediatric health care. With the focus on evidence-informed health practice, it is imperative to identify the key active components of interventions. Coaching is by definition a complex intervention with numerous components. The purpose of this critical review is to determine how co...

Background: Peer-coaching has been used within the education field to successfully transfer a high percentage of knowledge into practice. In recent years, within health care, it has been the subject of interest as a method of both student training and staff continuing education as well as a format for knowledge translation. Aims: To review the l...

OBJECTIVE. We investigated differences in handwriting kinetics, speed, and legibility among four pencil grasps after a 10-min copy task. METHOD. Seventy-four Grade 4 students completed a handwriting assessment before and after a copy task. Grip and axial forces were measured with an instrumented stylus and force-sensitive tablet. We used multiple l...

Objective: Pencil grasps other than the dynamic tripod may be functional for handwriting. This study examined the impact of grasp on handwriting speed and legibility. Method: We videotaped 120 typically developing fourth-grade students while they performed a writing task. We categorized the grasps they used and evaluated their writing for speed...

Handwriting is a necessary skill for children to learn during school. Most children in North America learn two formats, manuscript and then cursive. Approximately one-fourth of school children have difficulty producing writing. With success and self-esteem of children negatively impacted by writing challenges, is it necessary for all children to le...

To investigate the impact of common pencil grasp patterns on the speed and legibility of handwriting after a 10-minute copy task, intended to induce muscle fatigue, in typically developing children and in those non-proficient in handwriting. A total of 120 Grade 4 students completed a standardised handwriting assessment before and after a 10-minute...

Handwriting difficulties or dysgraphia have a profound impact on children's psychosocial development, and yet, 10-30% of school-aged children are reported to experience difficulties mastering this skill. Several studies have examined the nature and biomechanical underpinnings of handwriting difficulties in children with and without dysgraphia. Whil...

A comprehensive understanding of the underlying biomechanical processes during handwriting is needed to accurately guide clinical interventions. To date, quantitative measurement of such biomechanical processes has largely excluded measurements of the forces exerted radially on the barrel of the writing utensil (grip forces) and how they vary over...

Similarities and differences were examined in the out‐of‐school recreation and leisure activity participation of 422 children with physical disabilities and 354 children without disabilities. The roles of age (six to eight years, nine to 11 years, and 12–14 years), gender, and disability status were examined with respect to the diversity, intensity...

Occupational Therapy Decision Making Guidelines for Problems in Written Productivity are being developed for occupational therapists (OTs) working with school-aged children with cerebral palsy who experience handwriting problems. These guidelines will assist the OT to choose suitable intervention strategies following assessment. The purpose for thi...

Occupational therapists working with children with handwriting issues lack a standard framework for selecting treatment activities. This study investigated the utility of a decision-making guide, the Tool for Optimising Written Productivity (TOW-P). In the study, 14 occupational therapists used the TOW-P to guide the selection of interventions for...

Children with severe physical disabilities often lack the physical skills to explore their environment independently, and to play with toys or musical instruments. The movement-to-music (MTM) system is an affordable computer system that allows children with limited movements to play and create music. The present study explored parents' experiences...

Computer-mediated, augmented environments endow the real physical surroundings with additional properties or information. We present two augmented environment systems developed at the largest paediatric rehabilitation hospital in Canada. One enables children with motor impairments to create music while the other facilitates the relearning of commun...

To describe and exemplify a noninvasive instrumentation system that uniquely records grip forces exerted on the barrel of the writing utensil along with typical temporal and kinematic parameters. Exploratory case series. A tertiary care, pediatric rehabilitation hospital. Convenience sample of 6 primary school children with spastic hemiplegic cereb...

Computer-mediated, augmented environments endow the real physical surroundings with additional properties or information. We present two augmented environment systems developed at the largest paediatric rehabilitation hospital in Canada. One enables children with motor impairments to create music while the other facilitates the relearning of commun...

Parental care for a child with a developmental disability is an enormous responsibility, one that can far exceed that of typical parental care. While most parents adapt well to the situation of caring for a child with a disability, some do not. To understand parents' adaptations to their children's disabilities, the complex nature of stress process...

Many school-aged children experience difficulties in written productivity, which result in a large number of referrals for school-based Occupational Therapists (OTs). Health care practitioners are being called upon to establish consistent practice, yet there are presently no guidelines to facilitate consistency in this clinical area. The Tool for O...

Music therapy is the creative use of music and its elements by an accredited music therapist to restore, maintain, and improve mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Music's structural, nonverbal and stimulating nature is used to build a therapeutic relationship transcending ages, ability levels, and backgrounds. Music therapy practice...