MacART at McMaster Child Health Research Day – 2024

On March 27, 2024, McMaster Child Health Research Day (MCHRD) was held at CIBC Hall at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. This annual event is a knowledge translation forum that was developed in collaboration with academic and community partners across Hamilton. The day brought together academic learners and research staff supervised by faculty in McMaster University’s Faculty of Health Sciences who specialize in child health research. Attendees participated in a full day of engaging discussions, listened to inspirational presentations, and connected with peers and collaborators.

Many MacART members attended the 2024 McMaster Child Health Research Day, offering our members an outstanding chance to disseminate our research discoveries, engage in idea-sharing, and foster collaborations within the worldwide community involved with neurodevelopmental conditions and disabilities. This year, MacART members contributed to various poster presentations and oral presentations, and many were thrilled to support their academic learners who they have been able to supervise over the last year (some even beyond!).

The following presentations include MacART members as contributors and/or supervisors (with the program book, with full presentation abstracts, available HERE): 

ORAL PRESENTATIONS:

Themes: Pediatric Chronic Conditions and Epidemiology

School-based disability awareness programs for children and youth: A scoping review

Socioeconomic Trajectories throughout Childhood and Mental Health Service Use During Adolescence and Early Adulthood: A Birth-Cohort Study Using Population Based Health Administrative Data

POSTER PRESENTATIONS:

Many of our MacART members had a variety of work on display supporting their students. Here are the autism-related projects listed below: (The numbers in brackets represent the abstract number for the poster presentations, which you can find HERE.)

Associations between Parent-Reported Environmental Supportiveness and Sensory Processing in Autistic Children

From Initial Concerns to Formal Diagnosis: Exploring the Pre-Diagnosis Pathways of Newly Diagnosed Autistic Children

Exploring convergent and discriminant validity between the Behavioral Inflexibility Scale and the Autism Impact Measure in Autistic children

The Pediatric Autism Research Cohort (PARC) Study: Examining Trajectories of Functioning in Autistic Children in Canada

Bot-ched Data: Dealing with Bots and Bad Actors in Online Autism Research

  • (47) By Samantha Rutherford (undergrad student), supervised by MacART trainee Dr. Mackenzie Salt and ASD Team/Offord Centre colleague Alessia Greco

Unveiling the Clinical Impact of an Abilities-focused Social Communication Classification Tool for Children with Autism

We also want to acknowledge the multifaceted works our MacART members have supported that have a broader focus beyond just autism; those are listed below:

Through the Lens of Inclusion: A Content Analysis of Visible Disability Representation in Children’s TV Shows

  • (14) By Delaney Ringer (undergrad student), supervised by MacART member Dr. Julia Frei

Literature Review on Disability Representation in Disney and Pixar Animated Films

GrowDMD: An International Study on Transition of Youth with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)

What do today’s parents want and need from healthcare services? Developing a new measure of Family-Centred Service

  • (48) By Kinga Pozniak (post-doctoral fellow), supervised by MacART member Dr. Peter Rosenbaum

Every child’s story is a treasure: Children with disabilities and their parents speak out about the supports and services they need post Covid-19 and into the future

Transforming Pediatric Care: Innovations in Toy Acquisition and Management for Enhanced Patient Experiences and Developmental Assessments

  • (50) By Ellen Wang (undergrad student), supervised by MacART member Dr. Julia Frei

Analyzing and Addressing Increasing Wait Times in Developmental Pediatrics at the Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre

Creating a Pediatric Learning Health System for Neurodevelopment

  • (72) By Alessia Greco & Dr. Elyse Rosa (research staff), supervised by MacART Co-Director/Founder Dr. Stelios Georgiades

Evaluation of virtual care services offered to children across Ontario

Exploring Indigenous Perspectives on Fetal Alcohol

Teacher-reported prevalence of FASD in 2016 to 2020 in kindergarten in Canada and its associations with neighbourhood-level socioeconomic status and home problems

Developing a Protocol for Measurement-Based Care in School Mental Health Settings

Adaptation and Validation of the Washington Group/UNICEF Child Functioning Module in a Nationally Representative Sample of Canadian Children and Youth

RESEARCH DAY HIGHLIGHTS:

A group photo with leaders in child health care and research. Left to right: MacART member Briano Di Rezze, keynote speaker and Edmonton MP Mike Lake, chair of Pediatrics Angelo Mikrogianakis, McMaster Children’s Hospital President Bruce Squires, pediatrics researcher Gita Wahi, Hamilton MP Lisa Hepfner, Offord Centre director & MacART co-director Stelios Georgiades, and CanChild co-director & MacART member Olaf Kraus de Camargo.
Dr. Elyse Rosa and Alessia Greco of the ASD Team with the Offord Centre presents posters titled “Evaluation of Virtual Care Services Offered to Children in Ontario” and “Creating a Learning Health System for Neurodevelopment”, involving MacART members Dr. Jean-Eric Tarride, Dr. Olaf Kraus De Camargo, Karen Margallo, Holly Augerman, and Dr. Stelios Georgiades.
The PARC Study general info poster titled, “The Pediatric Autism Research Cohort (PARC) Study: Examining Trajectories of Functioning in Autistic Children in Canada”, involving MacART members Drs. Teresa Bennett, Yun-Ju (Claire) Chen, Briano Di Rezze, Irene Drmic, Eric Duku, Kathy Georgiades, Stephen Gentles, Olaf Kraus De Camargo, Mackenzie Salt, Caroline Roncadin, Peter Rosenbaum, Mohammad Zubairi, and Stelios Georgiades.
Ellen Cole of the ASD Team, Offord Centre presenting her poster titled, “Exploring Convergent and Discriminant Validity Between the Behavioral Inflexibility Scale and the Autism Impact Measure in Autistic Children”, involving MacART members Drs. Yun-Ju (Claire) Chen, Eric Duku, Terry Bennett, Kathy Georgiades, Mackenzie Salt, Mohammad Zubairi, Julia Frei, Olaf Kraus De Camargo, Peter Rosenbaum, Briano Di Rezze, Caroline Roncadin, Irene Drmic, Stephen J Gentles, & Stelios Georgiades.
Nicole Rob, MacART Co-Director/Co-Founder Dr. Stelios Georgiades’ undergraduate thesis student, presenting her poster titled, “From Initial Concerns to Formal Diagnosis: Exploring the Pre-Diagnosis Pathways of Newly Diagnosed Autistic Children”.
Samantha Rutherford, an undergrad student supervised by MacART trainee Dr. Mackenzie Salt, presenting their poster titled, “Bot-ched Data: Dealing with Bots and Bad Actors in Online Autism Research”.
MacART Co-Director and Founder Dr. Stelios Georgiades preparing to moderate questions from the audience during the afternoon presentations.
Nicole Rob (Dr. Stelios Georgiades’ undergraduate thesis student) and Christopher Smolej (Dr. Stelios Georgiades & Dr. Yun-Ju Chen’s undergraduate thesis student).

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