NF Midwest Funded Research Chosen as a Top Poster at NF Conference

We are proud to learn that Christy Casnar, a collaborator on an ongoing study that NF Midwest has funded for several years, had her research poster chosen as one of the top 3 in the clinical category at the annual NF Conference that was held in June in Washington DC. The NF Conference brings together NF scientists, researchers and clinicians from around the world.

A poster is a visual presentation of the results of a research study at a scientific conference and it is an honor to have it chosen as research that is valuable and well presented. View her poster here.

Ms. Casnar found that complex fine motor skills of young children with NF1 showed some delays in comparison to same-aged peers, but that there is no relation to parental report of attention difficulties that are often found in children with NF1. So, while children with NF1 are at increased risk of showing fine motor difficulties, however these difficulties appear to be separate from attention problems at this age. It is suggested that it is useful for young children with NF1 to undergo occupational therapy evaluations to assess their fine motor skills.

NF Midwest has been funding cognitive studies of young children with NF for several years. These local studies have been led by Bonnie Klein-Tasman at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and have resulted in the publications of two journal articles by Dr. Klein-Tasman and her team.

As an added benefit, these studies that NF Midwest funded also provided free neuropsychological testing to 65 children with neurofibromatosis type 1 in the Midwest.

Check out the journal articles in the International Journal of Pediatrics and in the Journal of International Neuropsychological Society.