CHEaR Research Lab

01/19/2026

Dr. Laura Brunton and the Child Health, Exercise and Rest (CHEaR) Lab at Western University are looking for adults with childhood-onset disabilities (such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, developmental delay) and/or their caregivers to complete a few surveys about their healthcare experience. The surveys will ask for some basic information about the person, their condition, health and wellbeing, as well as their experiences with the health system. We are doing this study to understand more about the healthcare experience for adults with childhood-onset disabilities and how we can make it better.

This is a difficult population to reach - if you treat adult patients with any of these conditions, please consider sharing this study with them and encouraging them to contact the research team at [email protected] to participate

11/25/2025

Dr. Laura Brunton and the Child Health, Exercise and Rest (CHEaR) Lab at Western University is looking for healthcare providers who work with children from birth to 6 years old to complete a survey. The survey will ask you some basic information about your practice area and then ask if you recommend online resources (websites and social media) to caregivers of your patients. We are looking to gather the online resources you recommend and appraise the quality of websites and social media recommendations to understand information available to parents of young children in Canada.

Click here to take the survey: https://uwo.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8e8zpXH3MTOgNiC

06/23/2025

Western will be the host venue for the 2026 Special Olympics Ontario Provincial School Championships, bringing hundreds of athletes and educators to London

06/27/2024

Check out the latest publication from the CHEaR Lab, the The Enhance Lab and the PONI - Pediatric Onset of Neuromotor Impairments Lab

Highlights Include:

Children with CP experienced pain, fatigue, disordered sleep, and low levels of physical activity.

Children with CP experienced elevated symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Linear regressions determined all physiological factors contributed to caregiver-related anxiety and depression symptoms.

10/16/2023

Check out the CHEaR Lab's latest publication describing health care concerns of adults with cerebral palsy - from the revolutionary Transitional and Lifelong Care program at Parkwood Institute in London ON St. Joseph's Health Care London

To identify healthcare concerns of adolescents and adults with cerebral palsy (CP) followed in a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program and identify…

05/03/2023

Check out these findings from Lauren Kane's MSc in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences!

02/11/2023

12/22/2022

Check out this new publication by Kathryn Hatherly PhD Candidate and CHEaR Research Lab Alumnus Daniela Testani that summarizes the available evidence for the delivery of synchronous virtual rehabilitation intervention services for preschoolers and to identify key factors associated with virtual intervention

To summarize the available evidence for the delivery of synchronous virtual rehabilitation intervention services for preschoolers and to identify key factors associated with virtual intervention.Fi...

06/22/2022

Check out this Scoping Review conducted by CHEaRLab Alum Jessica Starowicz and Alum/Current PhD Student Karen Pratt in collaboration with the !

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/2FKZVAKFCA5UVXXNAGM4/full?target=10.1080/01942638.2022.2060058

06/20/2022

Have you ever wondered if the painted lines on school tarmac's stimulate physical activity for kids? Check out this paper by Wong et al., 2022 in collaboration with the and read more about what Teachers and Students had to say about these designs and how we can help kids use them to be more active during the school day!

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/MRKKX5HZE7GCTM67ZRTX/full?target=10.1080/14927713.2022.2085156

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

06/08/2022

New Survey Opportunity for Practicing PTs Please take a moment to complete this if you can! Survey here: https://uwo.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_55cPurqSU1qPQTc

05/25/2022

I LOVE teaching kids how to climb up the slide...great strengthening exercise that can also have a good stretching component if they can keep those heels down!

Do you allow children to climb up slides?

Here's some reasons why the children are allowed to climb up slides over at Child Central Station. - Claire

http://childcentralstation.com/2014/01/climb-up-the-slide.html?hc_location=ufi