Dr. Mary Law
Co-Founder / Emeritus
Team
Scientists
Biography
Dr. Mary Law is Co-Founder of CanChild and Professor Emeritus in the School of Rehabilitation Science. She is an occupational therapist with graduate training in health research methods and health and social planning. Her research in CanChild studies the factors in communities that help or hinder children with disabilities to participate in daily activities. She is also involved in research to evaluate the effectiveness of rehabilitation services for young children with disabilities. Mary works together with families in doing research to ensure that knowledge is used to support their children's participation.
Areas of Focus
Development, validation, and transfer into practice of outcome measures, evaluation of family-centred interventions for children with disabilities
Resources
Developing All About Outcomes, Part 1: Measuring clinical outcomes in children's rehabilitation centres in Ontario
This project was the first of two studies designed to develop and test a computerized software program that would enable health service providers in children's treatment centres to select the most appropriate outcome measure to use with individual clients and/or in program evaluations.
Effective Rehabilitation for Children and Youth with Brain Injury: Analyzing the Evidence
This project includes 6 systematic reviews of different rehabilitation interventions for children and youth with brain injury. Topics to be covered are: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Casting and Splinting, Botox, Alternative Therapies, Feeding and Behaviour Therapy.
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Assistance to Participate Scale (APS), Child's Challenging Behavior Scale (CCBS), Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), Daily Activities of Infants Scale (DAIS), Health Promoting Activities Scale (HPAS), Spinal Alignment and Range of Motion Measure (SAROMM).
PARTICIPATE STUDY: The Participation of Children with Disabilities
The PARTICIPATE study has been designed to examine the participation of children with physical disabilities in formal and informal everyday activities.
Quality of Life Training Program
This program will enable trainees to generate urgently needed evidence on rehabilitation, and ensure that research findings are translated into improved quality of life.
ABI Trajectories
Trajectories and Consequences: Long-term follow-up of children and youth and their families after acquired brain injury.
Cognitive Intervention for Children with Traumatic Brain Injury
This one year pilot study will examine the effectiveness of a short-term, individualized occupational therapy intervention with children 7-15 years of age who are experiencing difficulties at home and school after a traumatic brain injury.
STACK
In the STACK Study (which stands for Screening, Tracking and Assessing Coordination in Kids), students in Grades 4 to 8 in two school boards were screened to identify children who may have coordination difficulties.
Development of a Parent Information KIT (KIT: Keeping it Together™)
The KIT: Keeping it Together™ has been designed to help these parents use information as a tool that will help them to get 'the best' for their child(ren).
Evaluation of an information KIT for parents of children with special needs: Use, utility and impact
The focus of this two-year prospective evaluation (N=500) is to determine the perceptions of impact and use of the Parent Information KIT (KIT: Keeping it Together™) in pediatric rehabilitation settings.
Evaluation of the Opening Doors Project
The aim of this project is to assist the young adults and their families to develop natural support circles and become involved in community activities.
Family-centred service: Moving ideas into practice
This study is designed to develop and evaluate educational materials about family-centred service.
Focus on Function
The Focus on Function Study will compare two treatment approaches ("child-focused" and "context-focused") that are currently being used for children with cerebral palsy and other developmental and motor delays.
Measuring the External Impact of University-Community Research Alliances and Partnerships Addressing Social/Health Services Issues
The aim of this 3-year research program is to develop a reliable and valid survey measure of the community impacts of research partnerships between universities and community agencies that address social or health services issues.
Development and Testing of a Resource Manual for Parents of Young Adults Who Receive Individualized Funding for Support
The goal of this project is to develop a Resource Manual that can be broadly circulated to families who receive individualized funding.
Measures of Participation: CAPE & PAC
The Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) and the Preferences for Activities of Children (PAC) are two companion measures of children's participation.
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The Quality of Upper Extremity Skills Test is an outcome measure designed to evaluate movement patterns and hand function in children with cerebral palsy.
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Assistance to Participate Scale (APS), Child's Challenging Behavior Scale (CCBS), Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), Daily Activities of Infants Scale (DAIS), Health Promoting Activities Scale (HPAS), Spinal Alignment and Range of Motion Measure (SAROMM).
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Study Establishing Valid Criteria for Classification of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Children
What are the criteria that distinguish children with a MTBI from those with moderate and severe injuries?
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (Concussion) Education
In collaboration with the College of Family physicians and the Provincial MTBI Strategy, the team will work to develop and evaluate user-friendly materials that help physicians in: identification of MTBI; recommendations for return to activity and school; referral guidelines for further services, specifically for children/youth in their practice.
Working Together for Change: The Role of Families in Generating, Using and Transmitting Knowledge in Higher Education and Research
Children, youth and young adults with disabilities and their families currently play a crucial role in changing the attitudes and expectations of their neighbours, those in the helping professions and public policy makers.
Patterns and Predictors of Recreational and Leisure Participation for Children with Physical Disabilities
For children and youth, involvement in life situations includes participation in recreational and leisure activities as well as school and work activities.
Working Together for Change: The role of Community Faculty in education and research
The purpose of the Working Together for Change Project was to influence the thinking and behaviour of researchers, educators and students in post secondary educational settings.
Autism Spectrum Disorders and Occupational Therapy - Briefing to the Senate Standing Committee
Brief on Autism Spectrum Disorders and Occupational Therapy for the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, Ottawa, Nov. 2006.
Participation and Environment Project
The Participation and Environment Project is a collaboration between researchers in the United States and Canada.
Transitions experienced by children and their families after acquired brain injury
What are the factors that influence transitions to home, school and community / recreational activities for the school-aged child with an acquired brain injury (ABI)?
Youth KIT
The purpose of this study is to obtain the ideas, perspectives, and needs of youth with disabilities, parents, and service providers for the content and design of the Youth version of the KIT (Keeping It Together), and to test the utility of the Youth KIT for youth with multiple exceptionalities.
Casts, Splints, and Orthoses - Upper Extremity Review of effectiveness literature for children with neurological disorders
Children who have a neurological condition, such as cerebral palsy or brain injury, often have difficulty moving their body. Muscle spasticity is one of the most common reasons for this difficulty.
The Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY): An innovative measure for home, school and community
The Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth, or the PEM-CY, is a new measurement tool designed to help parents, service providers and researchers better understand the participation of children and youth.
How Parents View Their Child’s Participation and Environment: Creating a Foundation for the PEM-CY
This current In Brief includes more details about what we learned from parents about their child’s participation and the impact of the environment on participation.
An Evaluation of the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY)
This current In Brief includes more details about what we did to evaluate whether the PEM-CY provides consistent information about participation and actually measures what we want it to measure.
Parent Needs and Strategies for Promoting Child Participation: What We Learned from Developing the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY)
This In Brief focuses on feedback from parents regarding the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY).
Research summary: Changing the task or changing the environment = Changing the Child
This summary is written to help families of children with Cerebral Palsy to understand the findings of a research study “Focus on function: a cluster, randomized controlled trial comparing child-versus contextfocused intervention for young children with cerebral palsy”.
Children with disabilities in Ontario: A profile of children's services.
Part 1: Children, families and services, Part 2: Perceptions about family-centred service delivery for children with disabilities and Part 3: Factors affecting family-centred service delivery for children with disabilities.
Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY)
The Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth, or the PEM-CY, is a new measurement tool designed to help parents, service providers and researchers better understand the participation of children and youth, ages 5 to 17.
Family-Centred Service: Completed Studies Reports
A studies series on the topic of Children with disabilities in Ontario: A profile of children's services.
Child and youth participation in leisure activities: Does the environment make a difference?
In this Keeping Current, we explore the impact of the environment on the participation of children and youth who are living with a disability.
Family Centred Service Sheets
Family-centred service is an approach to providing services to children with special needs, where the family is considered to be at the centre of the services.