Professor
Dr. Bjornson is a principal investigator in the Center for Child Health, Behavior, and Development (CCHBD) at Seattle Children's Research Institute. Her research is concerned with evidence-based clinical interventions to improve the activity and community-based mobility participation of persons with cerebral palsy and childhood onset physical disabilities. A related interest is to develop a methodology to enable rigorous testing of the effectiveness of various current and emerging treatments (e.g., orthotics, physical activity/exercise, and physical therapy timing and frequency) on relevant outcomes (e.g., ambulatory and physical activity, participation in daily life). Dr. Bjornson's current research focuses on ambulatory children and youth with cerebral palsy. This work examines short-burst interval treadmill training and home-based toddler treadmill training and orthotics for pre-ambulatory toddlers. Pilot work is being conducted exploring the real-world impact of a hands-free gait trainer.