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Special Edition July 15, 2013
CanChild Today
Greetings!

This special issue of CanChild Today marks the official launching of our Participation Knowledge Hub! Take time to explore exciting new resources about participation for children and youth with disabilities. Feel free to share these resources and this newsletter with family, friends and colleagues! They can subscribe to CanChild Today for free by registering here.

Also, check our What's New page for more postings and announcements. You can find past issues of CanChild Today newsletters here!

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http://participation-environment.canchild.ca/en/index.asp

This newly developed section of the CanChild website features exciting new resources about child and youth participation. Here are some of our favourites:

I want to Participate In...
This series of Tip Sheets is designed for children and young adults. Each tip sheet includes a list of strategies for successful participation. The child or youth can customize the sheets by checking off the things that are helpful for them. Parents may also complete the forms on behalf of their child or youth.  Topics include: music lessons, swimming lessons and organized group activities. Click here to view.

Participation 101
These participation Tip Sheets are written for parents. They provide information about a broad range of participation topics, including Accessibility, Making it Work & When to Move On, and Trying a New Activity. Click here.

Electronic PEM-CY with automated reporting
The electronic version of the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth is for use by parents and caregivers. Parents and caregivers can download the PEM-CY app onto their computer. After completing the questions about their child's participation and the environment at home, school and in the community, they will get a report that they can share with others. Click here.

Success Stories - What Participation Means to Me!
This section of the Participation Knowledge Hub highlights successful participation. We will be sharing stories about children and youth who are enjoying activities within their communities. Check out Jon's video and the articles about Kenny in the In The News section. Click here to view.

We hope you enjoy the Participation Knowledge Hub and will tell others about it. Click here for a flyer that you can use - share it electronically or print it for posting or handouts.

We will be adding more resources to the Participation Knowledge Hub. Please bookmark our site and check back over the summer. If you have a great resource or story about participation that you want to share, please contact Rachel Teplicky ([email protected]).

We look forward to hearing from you about what you like and any suggestions you have for improving the Participation Knowledge Hub!
Participants needed...
To test a new questionnaire of Young Children's Participation and Environment!
Parents of young children (from birth to 5 years 11 months) are being invited to help test the Young Children's Participation and Environment Measure (YC-PEM), a new measure of young children's participation in everyday activities. Click here to learn more about the study and how you can become involved.

To help us learn about the need for a participation app for smart-phones!
Parents of young adults (12 to 17 years old) are needed to help us determine whether we should make a smart phone app that could help parents set participation goals with their young adult and help them make plans to meet the goals. Click here to learn more and get involved.
Recent Publications about Participation by CanChild Scientists, Research Associates, International Collaborators, & Post Doctoral Fellows
Perspectives on measuring participation: Going forward
This commentary, in the Special July Issue of Child: Care, Health and Development, provides an outline of the current status of measurement of participation of children and youth with disabilities. The overview highlights the scope of measurement and the dimensions assessed, the populations targeted by the measures, and the techniques used to measure participation. As well, suggestions are made for future work in the field of outcome measurement of participation. Author: G King. Full access!

The youth report version of the Child and Adolescent Scale of Participation (CASP): Assessment of psychometric properties and comparison with parent report
The Child and Adolescent Scale of Participation (CASP) parent report is a brief and valid measure developed by Dr. Gary Bedell at Tufts University for use with children and youth with disabling conditions. The purpose of this research published in Child: Care, Health and Development was to assess the psychometric properties of a CASP youth self-report version, to further validate the parent report, and to compare parent and youth reports of youths' activity and participation. The results demonstrated that the youth version of the CASP is a psychometrically promising new self-report measure of activity and participation. Authors: J McDougall, G Bedell, V Wright. Full access!

School participation, supports and barriers of students with and without disabilities
In this study, school participation patterns of 576 students with and without disabilities were examined to discover whether features of the school environment were perceived to help or hinder their participation. Parents completed the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY) on-line. Parents of students with disabilities reported that their children participated less frequently in important school activities. The same parents were also more likely to report that features of the environment were barriers to school participation and that supportive resources were not adequate. Published in Child: Care, Health and Development. Authors: W Coster, M Law, G Bedell, K Liljenquist, Y-C Kao, M Khetani, R Teplicky. Full access! 

Psychosocial determinants of out of school activity participation for children with and without physical disabilities
Psychosocial determinants of children's out of school participation were examined, using secondary analyses of data from Canadian children with and without physical disabilities, ages 6 to 14. For both groups of children, the results showed that psychosocial variables added significant additional variance to the prediction of active physical intensity and social activity enjoyment, beyond that accounted for by children's physical functioning and demographic variables. There were also significant psychosocial determinants. Psychosocial variables play an important role in children's enjoyment and intensity of participation in leisure activities. Published in Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics. Authors: G King, M Law, T Petrenchik, P Hurley. Abstract.

Measuring communicative participation using the FOCUS�: Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six
As mentioned in the last newsletter, the FOCUS� is a new outcome tool for use by both parents and clinicians to measure changes in the communicative participation skills of preschool children. In this study, changes were compared across three groups of children: those with speech impairments only, those with language impairments only, and those with both speech and language impairments as measured by the FOCUS. The FOCUS was found to measure clinically important improvements in communication participation across all three groups. Published in Child: Care, Health and Development. Authors: N Thomas-Stonell, K Washington, B Oddson, B Robertson, P Rosenbaum. Full access!
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Contact Us: if you have any questions or comments, please contact us at [email protected].