Sharon FriefeldSharon FriefeldAssistant Professor

Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
(416) 946-8640
s.friefeld@utoronto.ca

Cross Appointments

  • Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Children's Stroke Program

  • Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Hospital for Sick Children.

School of Graduate Studies

  • Associate Member
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Biosketch

My funded research is with the Child Stroke Outcome Project at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. I lead the component of the study that conducts descriptive and exploratory studies on occupational performance and quality of life and its predictors in child survivors of stroke and their families. Recent research examines effectiveness of intervention on functional and occupational outcomes for children with chronic hemiparesis as a result of ischemic stroke. These include a student led project on Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) and a multidisciplinary pilot study on the effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on functional hand skills.

Selected Recent Publications

  1. Kirton, A., Chen, R., Friefeld, S., Gunraj, C., Pontigon, A., and deVeber, G. (2008). Contralesional repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for chronic hemiparesis in subcortical paediatric stroke: a randomised trial. Lancet Neurology, 7, 507­513.
     
    (see also Felipe Fregni (2008). Towards novel treatments for paediatric stroke: is transcranial magnetic stimulation beneficial? Lancet Neurology, 7, 472­473.)
  2. Kirton, A., Friefeld, S., Chen, R., Gunraj, C., Nettel-Aguirre, A. and deVeber, G. (2007). Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for chronic hemiparesis in pediatric stroke: A proof-of-principle, randomized clinical trial. Annals of Neurology, 62(S11), 98-99.
  3. Kirton, A., deVeber, G., Yeboah, O., Ichord, R., Rafay, M.m MacGregor, D., Curtis, R. and Friefeld, S. (2006). Pediatric NIHSS as a Predictor of Neurological Outcome in Childhood Stroke. Stroke, 37, 640-641.
  4. Friefeld, S., MacGregor, D., Curtis, R. and deVeber, G. (2005). Basal Ganglia Stroke and Long-Term Motor Function in School-Age Children. Annals of Neurology, 58(S9), 119-120.
  5. Friefeld, S., MacGregor, D., Curtis, R., Snipelisky, Martin and deVeber, G. (2005). Psychosocial Outcomes following Basal Ganglia Stroke in Children. Annals of Neurology, 58(S9), 125.

Recent Thesis/Projects Supervised

  1. "The effectiveness of CO-OP (Cognitive Orientation Occupational Performance) for school-age children with ischemic stroke of the basal ganglia. Single-case study design". E. Agnoletto (MScOT), 2006.
  2. "The effectiveness of a new dynamic seating device on nine to ten-year-old students with attention deficit integrated in a regular grade three class. Single-subject design". J. Hillier (MScOT) and D. Pratt (MScOT), 2006.
  3. "Analysis of Play and Socialization Skills in Pre-Teen Girls with Stroke". T. Georgieff (MScOT), 2004.
  4. "Sensory-motor coordination in school-age children surviving stroke of the basal ganglia". A. Snipelinsky (MScOT), 2004.
  5. "Health-Related Quality of Life of Child Survivors of Stroke: A Comparative Study on Parent and Child Perspectives". L. Duffus (MScOT), 2003.

Research Interests

Paediatric occupational performance, quality of life and its predictors, and occupational performance needs of children; Quality of life outcome measure development and validation; exploratory studies on brain behaviour correlates following ischemic stroke in children.

 

Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy

Faculty