The Baby Champ Study, a clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health, compares three highly promising forms of therapy for infants and toddlers who have a diagnosis of hemiparetic cerebral palsy.
Children who meet study eligibility criteria at one of the two clinical sites— Roanoke, Virginia, and Columbus, Ohio—will be invited to enroll, and their parents will be provided all the necessary paperwork along with informed consent documentation. Assignment to one of the alternative therapy conditions will be random. Participation in the study includes assessment of each child prior to treatment, close monitoring of the child’s progress during treatment, and post- treatment evaluation at the end of therapy, as well as 6 and 12 months later.
All the therapies in this study include parents as partners with the trained therapist in order to maximize practice and improvement in the child’s everyday setting. In addition to studying enrolled children, the sites will also be working with the children’s parents to learn more about their thoughts and feelings about the therapy condition that they and their children are experiencing. Since therapy can sometimes be stressful for some parents and children, we want to learn more about how to eliminate any possible additional burden from families.
There is no charge for the therapy provided.
Who Is Eligible?
Your child may be eligible to participate in the study if he or she:
- Is between 6 and 24 months old;
- Has a medical diagnosis of cerebral palsy;
- Has significant impairment in the use of an upper extremity;
- Can communicate basic needs and interact in a playful way with a familiar adult; and
- Has one or both parents who are willing to participate in learning how to provide at-home therapy activities that will involve one hour a day over a four- week period.
FOR MORE INFORMATION visit: labs.vtc.vt.edu/nmrc
