Sarah Knight

• PhD
• Senior Lecturer at University of Melbourne

Introduction Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling condition that can affect adolescents during a vulnerable period of development. The underlying biological mechanisms for ME/CFS remain unclear and have rarely been investigated in the adolescent population, despite this period representing an age peak in the ov...

Adolescent Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling illness of unknown etiology. Increasing evidence suggests hypothalamic involvement in ME/CFS pathophysiology, which has rarely been explored using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the condition. This work aimed to use MRI to examine hypothalamus connectivity in...

Background Many families of children with acquired brain injuries (ABI) desire opportunities to connect with peers who have shared similar experiences, but such opportunities are often unavailable. Heads Together Online Peer Education (HOPE) is a co-designed online video-based resource that provides information and early support to families followi...

Background While goal setting with children and their families is considered best practice during rehabilitation following acquired brain injury, its successful implementation in an interdisciplinary team is not straightforward. This paper describes the application of a theoretical framework to understand factors influencing goal setting with child...

Background The present study is the foundational project of TeachABI-Australia, which aims to develop and implement an accessible, nation-wide digital resource for educators to address their unmet acquired brain injury (ABI)-related professional learning needs. The aim of the present study was to identify the adaptations required to improve the sui...

Adolescent Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex illness of unknown aetiology. Emerging theories suggest ME/CFS may reflect a progressive, aberrant state of homeostasis caused by disturbances within the hypothalamus, yet few studies have investigated this using magnetic resonance imaging in adolescents with ME/CFS...

Recent studies in adults with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) suggest that changes in brain white matter microstructural organization may correlate with core ME/CFS symptoms, and represent a potential biomarker of disease. However, this has yet to be investigated in the pediatric ME/CFS population. We examined group diff...

Adolescent Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex illness of unknown aetiology. Emerging theories suggest ME/CFS may reflect a progressive, aberrant state of homeostasis caused by disturbances within the hypothalamus, yet few studies have investigated this using magnetic resonance imaging in adolescents with ME/CFS...

Need to know: There are key differences between adult and paediatric ME/CFS that affect diagnosis and management. Evidence suggests best outcomes are seen for children and adolescents who receive an intensive multidisciplinary approach to care, supported by an ME/CFS specialist team that covers medical, psychological, social, educational and life...

Background Children and adolescents who sustain an acquired brain injury (ABI) can experience acute and ongoing difficulties in a range of cognitive and functional domains, and their families often experience significant life changes and challenges. Family-centred service is therefore considered best practice in paediatric ABI rehabilitation. Despi...

To understand the systems underlying current rehabilitation models of care used with children and youth (0–21years) who sustain traumatic brain and/or spinal cord injuries. This study gathered qualitative data on service structures, service organization, and the barriers and facilitators of service provision in selected medical rehabilitation servi...

Purpose Family-centred service is considered best practice in paediatric acquired brain injury (ABI) rehabilitation. However, there is no universal model to guide clinicians and services in implementing this approach with a lack of research evidence informed by the lived experience of families. This study explored experiences of family-centred serv...

Objectives COVID-19 has led to rapid changes in rehabilitation service provision for young people living with traumatic brain and/or spinal cord injury. The aim of this project was to understand the experiences of rehabilitation service providers during the acute response stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we aimed to identify innovative...

Purpose Paediatric acquired brain injury (ABI) negatively impacts parental wellbeing and family functioning. Adaptive coping, that is behaviours promoting emotional wellbeing and addressing distressing problems, may support wellbeing and family functioning. This study compared wellbeing, coping, and family functioning between parents of a child wit...

This study explored the experiences of goal setting in paediatric rehabilitation from the perspectives of children and adolescents with acquired brain injury (ABI) and their parents in paediatric rehabilitation. Using a qualitative research design, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 parents and 8 young people with ABI aged between...

Background: The purpose of this study was to follow-up an Australian cohort of adolescents newly-diagnosed with ME/CFS at a tertiary paediatric ME/CFS clinic and healthy controls over a mean period of two years (range 1-5 years) from diagnosis. Objectives were to (a) examine changes over time in health and psychological wellbeing, (b) track ME/CFS...

ABSTRACT Objective: Review the literature on predictors of participation and quality of life in children and young people who sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury (SCI), and/or multi-trauma in a motor vehicle or other accident or trauma. Design: This systematic review was conducted and reported in line with the Preferred Rep...

To describe current rehabilitation models of care and programmes, in Australia and internationally, related to family-centred care, psychosocial support, and transitions used for children and youth who have sustained major traumatic brain and/or spinal cord injuries. Fourteen services were interviewed, including eight medical rehabilitation service...

Emerging evidence suggests that central nervous system dysfunction may underlie the core symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) in adults, such as cognitive disturbance, fatigue and post-exertional malaise. Research into brain dysfunction in the pediatric CFS/ME context, however, is severely lacking. It is unclear w...

This paper explored clinicians’ experiences of the goal setting process with children and adolescents with acquired brain injuries (ABI) and their families in paediatric neurorehabilitation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 clinicians, all members of an interdisciplinary paediatric rehabilitation service, who work with children and...

Childhood stroke results in long-term, multifaceted difficulties, affecting motor, cognitive, communication, and behavioral domains of function which impact on participation and quality of life. The Childhood Stroke Consensus Rehabilitation Guideline was developed to improve the care of children with stroke by providing health professionals with re...

Childhood stroke CPG

Purpose: Socially assistive robots are emerging as a method of supporting the rehabilitation of children with physical disabilities. To date there has been no in-depth analysis of parent and child perspectives regarding the use of socially assistive robots for pediatric rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to capture the experiences of par...

Purpose: Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is associated with intellectual and academic declines in children treated for embryonal brain tumors. This study expands upon existing research by examining core neurocognitive processes that may result in reading difficulties in children with treatment-related ototoxicity. Patients and methods: Prospec...

Objective To estimate the paediatrician-diagnosed incidence of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in Australia, and describe demographic and clinical features, as well as approaches to diagnosis and management. Methods The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit facilitates monthly national surveillance of uncommon conditions seen by paediatricians. D...

Background: It is well known that adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) experience greater school absenteeism compared to healthy adolescents. Less is known about other important aspects of school functioning including school participation, school connectedness, and academic performance in students with CFS. The aim of this study was to c...

Objective: The aim of this review was to critically appraise the quality of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for the rehabilitation of children with moderate or severe acquired brain injury (ABI). Data sources: A systematic search of MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library was conducted and an extensive webs...

Socially assistive robots (SARs) offer great promise for improving outcomes in paediatric rehabilitation. However, the design of software and interactive capabilities for SARs must be carefully considered in the context of their intended clinical use. While previous work has explored specific roles and functionalities to support paediatric rehabili...

BACKGROUND It is often surmised that school functioning is significantly impacted in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS); however, how this phenomenon manifests itself has rarely been characterized. METHODS This systematic review synthesized and critically appraised methods, constructs, and instruments used to assess school functioning in students with...

Study objectives: Little is known about the type and severity of sleep disturbances in the pediatric chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) population, compared with healthy adolescents. Using a range of objective and subjective measures, the aim of this study was to investigate sleep quality, the relationship between objectiv...

Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) offer great promise for improving outcomes in paediatric rehabilitation. However, the design of software and interactive capabilities for SARs must be carefully considered in the context of their intended clinical use. While previous work has explored specific roles and functionalities to support paediatric rehabili...

We present the in-situ design and development of a general purpose social robot (NAO) as a therapeutic aid for paediatric rehabilitation. We describe our two-phase design approach, emphasising frequent patient/parent/therapist engagement and outline roles and requirements for our SAR prototype derived from this process. Our SAR prototype has now be...

Socially assistive robots show great potential for boosting therapeutic outcomes in children undergoing intensive rehabilitation. However, the introduction of an additional interactive presence also imposes new demands on the therapist. In this preliminary study we explore the time costs and issues associated with the inclusion of a semi-autonomous...

The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQLTM) in measuring health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and fatigue in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), using both adolescent-reported and caregiver proxy ratings. Eighty-four participants (42 adolescents and 42 pa...

Fatigue is common in chronic health conditions in childhood, associated with decreased quality of life and functioning, yet there are limited data to compare assessment instruments across conditions and childhood development. Our objective was to describe fatigue assessment instruments used in children with chronic health conditions and critically...

Children and adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) frequently report sleep disturbances. However, little is known about the nature and severity of sleep disturbance and factors associated with sleep problems in pediatric CFS. The purpose of this review was to synthesize and critically appraise existing literature relating to sleep disturb...

AimThe diagnosis and management of paediatric chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encepnalomyelitis (CFS/ME) represent ongoing challenges for paediatricians. A better understanding of current approaches at a national level is important in informing where research and education could improve treatment outcomes. We aimed to examine current diagnosis and...

Children with single-suture craniosynostosis (SSC) are increasingly considered to be at high risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. This systematic review aimed to synthesise and critically appraise the existing literature on the neurodevelopmental features of SSC, with particular attention to methodological quality. A total of 33 articles ba...

We investigated the 5-year postsurgical developmental trajectory of working memory (WM) in children with medulloblastoma using parent and performance-based measures. This study included 167 patients treated for medulloblastoma. Serial assessments of WM occurred at predetermined time points for 5 years. There was a subtle, statistically significant...

This study aimed to evaluate visuomotor function in children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). The performance of 64 children, 1-7 years post-chemotherapy for ALL, was compared to that of their healthy peers (n = 56) on visuomotor integration (VMI) and motor coordination (MC) tasks. Children posttreatment for ALL displayed significan...

Background The aim of this study was to prospectively examine the effects of hearing loss and posterior fossa syndrome (PFS), in addition to age at diagnosis and disease risk status, on change in intellectual and academic outcomes following diagnosis and treatment in a large sample of medulloblastoma patients.Methods Data from at least 2 cognitive...

The diagnosis and management of paediatric chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) remain ongoing challenges for paediatric clinicians, particularly given its unknown aetiology and the little research on effective treatments for this condition. The aim of this study was to describe the presenting features of new patients attending a specialist chronic fatig...

The current study prospectively examined processing speed (PS), broad attention (BA), and working memory (WM) ability of patients diagnosed with medulloblastoma over a 5-year period. The study included 126 patients, ages 3 to 21 years at diagnosis, enrolled onto a collaborative protocol for medulloblastoma. Patients were treated with postsurgical r...

This systematic review evaluated empirical studies examining motor skills in children during and following treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Most studies indicated that children on-treatment display poorer gross and fine motor abilities than healthy peers, but generally have intact visual-motor integration skills. Studies have reported gr...

The objective of this study was to characterize the early neurodevelopmental profile of Australian infants with deformational plagiocephaly (DP). Twenty-one infants with a confirmed diagnosis of DP (mean age, 7.9 months; SD, 2.0 months) were assessed on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition, before treatment. As a group, infants w...

Purpose: A range of interventions have been used for the management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) in children and adolescents. Currently, debate exists as to the effectiveness of these different management strategies. The objective of this review was to synthesize and critically appraise the literature on intervent...

Objective: Chemotherapy treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) may disrupt motor development, with suggestions that gross and fine motor deficits are different depending on time since treatment. Methods: Thirty-seven participants aged between 2.5 to 5 years at the time of diagnosis were assessed using the Movement Assessment Battery f...

PURPOSETo examine longitudinal parent-reported social outcomes for children treated for pediatric embryonal brain tumors. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients (N = 220) were enrolled onto a multisite clinical treatment protocol. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist/6-18 at the time of their child's diagnosis and yearly thereafter. A generalized...

The current study reports longitudinal coping responses among parents of children diagnosed with an embryonal brain tumor. Patients (n=219) were enrolled on a treatment protocol for a pediatric embryonal brain tumor. Their parents (n=251) completed the Coping Response Inventory at time of their child’s diagnosis and yearly thereafter, resulting in...

This study investigated whether continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion is associated with sustained improvement in behaviour and metabolic control. Children with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (n = 27, 8-18 years old) who had been assessed previously prior to commencing continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion, and 6-8 weeks later, were re-evaluated 2...

10028 Background: Indicating a strong relationship to intelligence, processing speed parallels with the rate of knowledge acquisition. To further our understanding of the etiology of deficits in intellectual ability that continues to plague this group of children, the current study prospectively examined longitudinal changes in an underlying cognit...

Anecdotally, parents and teachers of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus report improvements in behaviour and learning following the commencement of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII). This study aimed to investigate changes in cognition, mood and behaviour following commencement of CSII in children with type 1 diabetes. Children (n...