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Ten years ago, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) developed a Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR). One of the foundations of SPOR is patient engagement, which is defined as “meaningful and active collaboration in governance, priority setting, conducting research and knowledge translation.”[1] This blog will explore Family Engagement in Research (FER). More specifically, [...]

Parents who’ve recently learned that their young child has a disability often don’t feel prepared to meet the challenges ahead. This is part of why investigators at McMaster University’s CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research have been developing a series of online workshops called ENVISAGE: ENabling VISions And Growing Expectations. Co-designed by researchers and [...]

When Dr. Keiko Shikako-Thomas was a high school student in Brazil, she volunteered for the Special Olympics. “I just fell in love [with the children],” she recalls. “I saw how they were thriving there, and I was like, ‘That is so cool.’” This experience, combined with a stint as a music teacher, set the [...]

Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC), MSFHR, and the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) are partnering to offer a grant of $50,000 to advance the understanding of: the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of families and caregivers who raise children and youth with special needs in British Columbia, and the [...]

The Claudette Bradshaw FASD Innovation Award recognizes the work of the Honourable Claudette Bradshaw and the many years of service she’s dedicated to the fields of FASD, early education, and homelessness. It is intended for an individual, agency, or organization that has developed an innovative intervention that has made a substantial contribution to the [...]

Despite setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Toronto teenager Madhavan Thevar has persisted in his efforts to raise $5000 for KBHN. In September, the teenager launched a GoFundMe where he set the goal of raising $5000 by giving away his first published book of poetry, a 22-poem collection entitled I Am Unique. The poems [...]

In March 2020, with funding from Kids Brain Health Network (KBHN), CASDA formed Policy Development Working Groups to research and synthesize policy options to inform the development of a National Autism Strategy (NAS). These working groups produced 15+ policy briefs with recommendations for the following areas: access and affordability, employment, research and governance, housing, [...]

Women’s Executive Network (WXN) has named KBHN Board Member Julia Hanigsberg one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2019 in the Most Powerful CEOs category. Hanigsberg has been the President and CEO of Toronto’s Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital since 2015, and this is her third time taking home the 100 Most Powerful Women [...]