two conditions: when they are performing at their best, known as their capacity, and what they usually do, known as their typical performance.
The work was funded by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
CanChild researchers and their colleagues in Sweden and the U.S. have created several functional classifications systems over the past 20 years. The first and best known of these classifications is the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) for children with cerebral palsy, now used worldwide in more than 40 languages.
The new classification system has the potential to be as influential as the GMFCS, said Dr. Peter Rosenbaum, one of the original developers of the GMFCS, co-founder of CanChild and a professor of developmental pediatrics at McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.
"We hope that the ACSF:SC has the same transformative impact in the field of autism as the GMFCS has been reported to have in the field of cerebral palsy. Its applicability in communication with families, and in clinical services, research, and policy-making, will be very exciting."
The tool with an attached User's Guide will be available as a free for clinical practice, academic research, educational and personal uses download through the CanChild website at http://bit.
CanChild is a non-profit research and educational centre focused on improving the lives of children with a variety of developmental conditions and their families. Its multi-disciplinary team includes researchers from McMaster University's Faculty of Health Sciences, as well as national and international scientists and collaborators. CanChild is supported by McMaster University and the McMaster Children's Hospital Foundation. For more information, please visit http://www.
Editors: A picture of Briano Di Rezzo and Peter Rosenbaum is available for downloading here: http://fhs.
Identification for a cutline is: Peter Rosenbaum (left) and Briano Di Rezzo
A short video about the study is here: http://bit.
For more information, contact:
Faculty of Health Sciences
905-525-9140, ext. 22863