Going Back—To Give Back

When Arden Grim ’26 was 5 months old, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP). The prognosis was uncertain. Doctors told Grim’s parents that their daughter may never walk or speak. Today, Grim is proving that a diagnosis does not determine destiny. Not only is she walking and speaking, she is on her way to becoming a pediatric neurologist, with a desire to work with children like herself. Over the summer, she got one step closer to that goal by doing an internship with some of the very medical professionals who once treated her.

CP is a congenital neurological disorder that affects movement, balance, posture, and speech. Symptoms include difficulty or inability to walk, involuntary movement, and trouble swallowing and talking. Grim credits her parents for acting quickly after her diagnosis to engage physical and occupational therapists, who made great strides with their young patient. “I learned to walk when I was around 18 months old,” says Grim, “a little bit delayed, but I learned.”

When the Duluth, Minnesota, native was 2 years old, her parents heard about a unique program in Alabama that used constraint-induced movement therapy, where the stronger limb is immobilized to improve the ability of the weaker limb. It was an intensive course of treatment—six hours a day, five days a week, for a month at a time—with the restrained limb staying immobile for the whole month. Over the years, Grim did several rounds of this treatment at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, and then in Minnesota, when it became available. “All my treatments were beneficial in helping me gain the function that I have today, but I’m sure the constraint-induced movement therapy was especially meaningful,” says Grim. “It was probably the majority of the therapy that I did.”

The clinic in Alabama that Grim first went to has since become the Neuromotor Research Clinic at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion, with some of the original staff making the move. During her internship there, Grim worked directly with some of the doctors and therapists who literally helped her get on her feet years ago. Here she talks about that experience, living with CP, and how Smith is helping her to achieve her dream of being a doctor.

How does your CP affect you today? 
“It continues to affect my energy level. I often get more fatigued than my peers would. It makes it a little bit harder to walk.”

When did you know that you wanted to go into neuroscience? 
“I’ve always just been fascinated by what’s going on inside my brain. I think that interest started to peak in high school, when I became interested in neuroscience and medicine. That’s what I’m now pursuing.”

How did you decide to come to Smith?
“I heard about Smith from an alum who is a good friend of my mom. I was looking for a smaller-size school because of my CP, as walking long distances can be quite challenging for me. I took a tour, and it was one of the most welcoming communities of any school I visited. I had this gut feeling that it was the place for me.”

How accessible did you find the Smith campus? 
“I think Smith has done a pretty good job of being accessible to me. The Accessibility Resource Center has been a fantastic resource. In 2022, my first year, when I couldn’t find a club for students with disabilities, I was one of the students who co-founded Dis-Organizing.”

What have you accomplished with Dis-Organizing?
“Our focus has been to have a space for community building for students who face disabilities and/or accessibility needs. We’ve also started to do some advocacy work. When we started, it was just myself and a couple other students, but today we have an email list of over 150.”

How would you like to see Dis-Organizing expand?
“I would love to see it continue to work on advocacy and other projects beyond Smith. We’ve started to do a little bit of that connecting to the Campus School, educating kids about disabilities. I’d love to see more projects like that.”

Describe your academic career.
“I came in wanting to do neuroscience—pre-health—so I started right away taking biology and chemistry introductory classes, and I have taken advanced neuroscience classes. I’m also doing a Spanish minor, and I spent last semester in Spain. I’ve taken other fun classes—a dance class, creative writing— a lot of variety, but all of it focused toward my career goal of being a pediatric neurologist.”

Talk about your summer internship.
“I applied to a program called neuroSURF and was very lucky to get a spot. Then I learned that the team who used to be my therapists when I was a child was working at the Neuromotor Research Clinic, one of the labs that I could partner with. I requested that lab as my first choice, and was very lucky to be paired with that lab. I think they were excited! It had been 14 years since I had seen them. I also met some new therapists, as well.”

What type of work did you do?
“The main research project right now in their lab is a clinical trial that started in 2019, comparing different dosages of constraint-induced movement therapy with young children. I mentioned that I did six hours a day of the therapy, so right now they’re looking at whether less time—three hours—is as effective. My project specifically was looking at some of the preliminary data, which was used by therapists in setting goals for each patient. I also compared target goals with accomplishments.”

Are there any conclusions yet? 
“So far, I found that the goal achievement itself didn’t differ between the 3-hour versus 6-hour dosages, which doesn’t mean it gives us insight into what may be the outcome of the trial. I also found some gender variables; there was more goal achievement for the female group than there was for the male group.”

How are you preparing for medical school?
“I have been working with the staff in pre-health advising at the Lazarus Center on getting a good mix of research, clinical, and volunteer experience. I’m considering taking a gap year to apply to medical schools. I’ve heard the Lazarus Center will advise you after you graduate, and that will be a big resource for me. I am grateful to continue to have the support of Smith beyond graduation.”