PhD Conferral Mrs. Corinne Ammann-Reiffer, MSc.

Keywords: pediatric, child, mobility, gait, outcome assessment, neurorehabilitation

"Measuring and Training of Walking Abilities in Pediatric Neurorehabilitation"

Walking ability is often a primary focus in pediatric neurorehabilitation. The dissertation presents a detailed overview of commonly used measurement instruments for the evaluation of gait function in children with neuromotor disorders. The dissertation further demonstrates that with the Functional Mobility Scale and the Gillette Functional Assessment Questionnaire Walking Scale, children’s everyday life mobility – an underrepresented perspective in clinical practice and in research - can be evaluated in inpatient settings. Finally, the dissertation addresses the rehabilitation of walking ability by investigating the effectiveness of robot-assisted gait training, a treatment approach that has been introduced ten years ago in pediatric neurorehabilitation.