Research & Innovation at The Therapy Collaborative

At The Therapy Collaborative, research and clinical care are closely connected.

Our research program is built on work led by our founder, Meredith Norwood, OTD, MOT, OTR/L, and collaborators in pediatric hospitals and academic settings—and it’s something we are committed to growing as an organization.

We use this foundation to guide how we evaluate, plan, and deliver therapy for children, teens, and young adults in Central Illinois, and to shape the questions we ask as we move our own research forward.

Over the past several years, members of our team have contributed to projects related to functional neurological disorder (FND), pediatric rehabilitation, chronic pain, early childhood development, caregiver experience, and healthcare systems and pathways.

Selected publications & scholarly work

    • Optimizing the Team Approach: Designing a Clinical Care Pathway for Functional Neurological Disorder (2024)

      Co-authored article in Journal for Healthcare Quality describing the development of a clinical care pathway for pediatric FND, with emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and practical implementation in a children’s hospital.

    • Assessing Providers’ Understanding and Comfort with Pediatric Functional Neurological Disorder

      Poster at the American Academy of Pediatrics Conference (Orlando, FL, 2024), examining how pediatric providers understand and feel about caring for youth with FND—an essential step in building effective care pathways.

    • Multidisciplinary Team Approach for Creating a Clinical Care Pathway for Functional Neurological Disorder

      Poster at the Pediatric Pain Society Conference (Anaheim, CA, 2024), highlighting a team-based process for designing an FND care pathway in a pediatric setting.

    • Implementing a Clinical Care Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pediatric Functional Neurological Disorder

      Accepted presentation for the Functional Neurological Disorder Society Conference (2024), focusing on how a clinical guideline for pediatric FND was rolled out and how providers experienced it.

    • Clinical Care Guideline for Pediatric FND: Hospital Roadshow Series

      Educational series at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, presented to multiple departments (Neurology, General Medicine, Hospital-Based Medicine, Rehabilitation, Psychology/Psychiatry, Nursing) to align teams around an FND care guideline.

    • Optimizing the Team Approach: Designing a Clinical Care Pathway for Functional Neurological Disorder in the Inpatient Pediatric Setting

      Poster at the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) (2023), describing the process and lessons learned from pathway development for pediatric FND.

    • Challenges in Resource Utilization for Caregivers of Persons with Dementia: A Qualitative Study

      Poster at George Washington University Research Days (2021), examining how caregivers of people with dementia navigate and use available resources.

    • Missed Milestones and Missed Opportunities: Advocating for Occupational Therapy in Early Childhood Development

      Poster accepted for presentation at AOTA Inspire 2026 (General session, poster format). This student-led project, completed during an OT Level II fieldwork placement at The Therapy Collaborative, focuses on the role of occupational therapy in identifying and addressing early childhood developmental concerns and the missed opportunities that occur when OT is not part of the early conversation.

    • Functional Neurological Disorder education and outcomes – 2025

      In 2025, our team contributed to the broader FND community in two connected ways:

      – Serving as a reviewer for the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Information/Education Page, “Functional Neurological Disorder (FND): A Practical Guide for Patients and Families” (ACRM News), helping to shape how FND information is communicated to patients and families.

      – Authoring “Functional Neurological Disorder Management in a Pediatric Hospital: A Retrospective Chart Review,” a research poster for ACRM 2025, examining real-world management and outcomes for pediatric FND in a hospital setting.

Members of our team, including our founder, have contributed to peer-reviewed publications, posters, and educational initiatives in pediatric rehabilitation, neurology, and caregiver experience.

Our research roots

The Therapy Collaborative’s research culture is grounded in years of work inside academic and hospital-based research programs. Before founding the clinic, members of our team were involved in federally funded projects and formal quality-improvement training focused on how to design, study, and improve care for real patients.

This includes experience with:

  • Federal research funding and study design – Working on an AHRQ R01–funded study and a HRSA-funded primary care research fellowship, with training in research methods, data collection, and outcomes measurement.

  • Hospital-based quality improvement – Participating in a children’s hospital improvement scholars program focused on building and implementing clinical guidelines, including work around pediatric FND.

What this means for families and providers is that The Therapy Collaborative was built with research-ready infrastructure and habits—we’re comfortable with data, collaboration, and change, and we know how to turn questions from everyday practice into projects that can actually move care forward.

Where we’re headed as an organization

Our goal is for The Therapy Collaborative to be a clinical hub and a learning lab for complex pediatric, teen, and young adult care in Central Illinois.

As our practice grows, our organizational research priorities include:

  • Practice-based projects examining outcomes for youth seen in our clinic (for example, FND, chronic pain, complex feeding, and brain injury).

  • Quality-improvement work focused on access, care pathways, and family experience.

  • Collaborative projects with hospital and university partners that connect outpatient, hospital, and community perspectives.

  • Research and scholarly projects led by students and early-career clinicians under our mentorship.

We see research as a long-term commitment of the organization—not just an individual accomplishment.

How research shapes care at The Therapy Collaborative

Research isn’t something we do on the side; it shapes the way we practice.

At The Therapy Collaborative, our research background shows up in everyday care by:

  • Using structured clinical frameworks—especially for complex neurologic presentations—to keep care coordinated and recovery-focused, not just symptom-focused.

  • Paying attention to both provider experiences and caregiver experiences, and designing plans that are realistic in busy family and medical systems.

  • Applying principles from quality improvement to continuously adjust how we deliver therapy, communicate with teams, and measure progress.

  • Bringing a team-based mindset to collaboration with neurology, primary care, psychology, school teams, and other therapists.

Families don’t need to read the research themselves—our job is to translate it into clear, practical plans.

Teaching & mentoring the next generation

The Therapy Collaborative is also a training site for future clinicians.

Our team’s teaching and mentoring work includes:

  • Guest lecturing for Illinois State University and Saint Louis University on occupational therapy roles and pediatric practice.

  • Mentoring undergraduate research assistants and students on topics such as research skills, team dynamics, and data collection tools (e.g., REDCap).

  • Providing mentorship to early-career occupational therapists and OT students on clinical reasoning, career development, and complex case management.

As part of this work, a recent OT Level II fieldwork student at The Therapy Collaborative:

  • Learned how to develop a compelling IRB research proposal

  • Explored how to identify relevant grants and funding opportunities

  • Participated in data analysis for a retrospective chart review on pediatric FND

  • Assisted with editing several scholarly works, including a manuscript

  • Observed systems analysis for a quality-improvement project within a pediatric hospital context

This fieldwork experience also led to the acceptance of the student-led poster, “Missed Milestones and Missed Opportunities: Advocating for Occupational Therapy in Early Childhood Development,” for presentation at AOTA Inspire 2026.

By integrating students into real-world research and quality-improvement work, we help grow the next generation of clinicians who are comfortable moving between the clinic, the data, and the larger healthcare system.

For providers and potential collaborators

We welcome conversations with:

  • Providers interested in how our research background can support their patients with FND, complex neurologic conditions, complex feeding, or other challenging presentations.

  • Academic or clinical partners exploring collaborative projects related to pediatric rehabilitation, care pathways, or functional outcomes.

  • Students and trainees seeking a clinically grounded, research-informed environment.

If you’d like to discuss a potential collaboration or learn more about our ongoing work, please contact us through our Provider Referrals page or at mnorwood@thetherapycollaborative.com (or your preferred research contact).