Interactive Games Using Hand-Eye Coordination Method for Autistic Children Therapy

Recent studies have found that imbalanced motor skills (hand-eye coordination) among autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autistic children cause lower efficiency in daily routines. Autistic children need long-term rehabilitation programs to improve their abilities. However, problems with a lack of motivation to participate in conventional therapy and the high cost of therapy sessions arise over time. Autism children need to do repetitive activities every time therapy sessions been done. Repetitive activities cause children having less interest to participate ongoing therapy sessions. Other than that, the therapy process usually requires a long time to be implemented that cause the relatively high cost had to be paid by the patient's family. The use of technology is seen more effective and less boring for child with autism. However, the use of games technology require gamer to hold game controller. Proposals for motion-based touchless games using NUI technology, such as the Kinect Xbox 360, to be used in rehabilitation are exciting for patients, but the design elements do not meet the requirements of autistic people. Hence, this research proposes a Kinect game based on design elements for autistic rehabilitation. The objective of this research is to identify symptom of eye-hand coordination problem and develop serious game using Kinect technology as the solution for the problem faced by autism children. This technology provides a low-budget solution costs of therapy and games base on 3D sensor without the use of control equipment which must be hold or touch by hand. Moreover, Kinect does not need a controller or additional body-worn attachment during play time. A game prototype was developed and measured, and an evaluation resulted in positive feedback from the user and therapists, thus meeting the objective of this study

Tecnología asistiva para personas con discapacidad en miembros superiores: un mapeo sistemático de la literatura

El uso de la tecnología es en una herramienta fundamental en todos los ámbitos, no obstante, muchas personas con discapacidades suelen verse limitadas en el uso de ciertos dispositivos, por no contar con los medios para adquirirlos, o porque los que existen no se adaptan a sus necesidades. Para analizar esta situación se realizó un mapeo sistemático de la literatura sobre tecnología asistiva para personas con discapacidad en miembros superiores. Así que se procedió a crear y ejecutar un protocolo que establece un conjunto de preguntas a responder y el procedimiento para la búsqueda, y posteriormente la aplicación de filtros para la selección de artículos. Finalmente, se presenta un análisis que responder a las preguntas planteadas. En base a esto, se pudo concluir que la principal tendencia dentro del desarrollo de tecnología asistiva está en la producción de hardware especifico que funciona con software propio. Por otro lado, la creación de dispositivos que utilizan software ya existente es la segunda tendencia. También es destacable que es baja la cantidad de artículos que proponen el uso de hardware ya existente o de propósito general y la creación de software para estos. Por último, se pudo observar que el uso de inteligencia artificial en este campo todavía no es una tendencia.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Broadening the Role of Occupational Therapists within the ICU Setting: An Occupation-Based Toolkit

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to create a quick intervention toolkit for occupational therapists treating clients in the intensive care unit (ICU) in order to increase occupation-based services, quality of care, and improve client outcomes. Additionally, this project hopes to enlighten occupational therapists who may experience burnout while providing services within such an intensive setting

The Effect of Motivational General-Mastery Imagery on Reaction Time Performance and Heart Rate

Research suggests that imagery can reduce reaction time (Alikhani et al., 2001; Grouios, 1992; Hanshaw & Sukal, 2016; Iftikhar et al., 2018; Shanks & Cameron, 2000). Previous studies examining the imagery and reaction time relationship have almost exclusively focused on motor imagery. Additionally, a recent study by McNeil and colleagues (2019) concluded that imagery training improved decision time variables, but not overall reactive agility. Individuals may not be able to generate unpredictable stimuli during imagery. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of motivational general-mastery (MG-M) imagery on reaction time and heart rate. Reaction time was measured using the Dynavision D2 visuomotor training device. It was hypothesized that the use of an MG-M imagery intervention will significantly increase reaction time and the number of hits during testing, and participants in the MG-M imagery group would have a lower heart rate range from beginning to end of test. A within-subjects and between-subjects pre-posttreatment design was implemented. Participants were 9 NCAA Division I student-athletes. The effectiveness of the imagery intervention on reaction time, number of hits, and heart rate range was assessed using nonparametric Wilcoxon-Signed rank tests and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results demonstrated that there was no statistically significant effect observed for reaction time, number of hits, or heart rate. Results suggest that MG-M imagery does not allow participants to react quicker to unpredictable stimuli, as participants could not generate unpredictable stimuli during imagery

Investigating The Effects Of Tactile Stress On A Military Touniquet Application Task

In combat, soldiers encounter stress from multiple sources including loss of sleep, extremely high levels of physical and psychological discomfort, extended periods of increased vigilance, and intense danger. Therefore, it is imperative to train such personnel on how to cope with these stressors. One way to do this is to include stressors in different forms of training to acclimate soldiers to the subsequent stress of combat. Due to their advantages, tactile trainers are being investigated increasingly for the use of training Army medics in this context. The present work examines how vibrating tactile sensors, or tactors, can be used as surrogate sources of stress on an operator performing a simulated medical task. This work also examines how this optimal configuration interacts with other types of stress, such as noise and time pressure. The outcome findings support the hypotheses that configurations placed on sensitive body areas are more stressful than those placed on more benign body locations in terms of worse task performance on a tourniquet application task. In terms of application times, the same trends persist in terms of proper application, subjective stress and subjective workload, as well as a secondary monitoring task, in terms of response times, accuracy, and time estimation. Additionally, findings supported hypotheses that the stress responses experienced order tactile stress alone is compounded when other types of stress are employed, both on the primary and secondary tasks. These results have implications for training, such that if stressors are employed in training, performance decrements might be lessened during actual task performance; they can be generalized to not only combat medics, but other military specialties and civilian jobs that incur vibration, auditory stress, and time pressure while engaged in performance

Occupational Therapy\u27s Role: A Foundational Occupational Therapy Education Resource for Ghana

In the developing country of Ghana, West Africa, there is a population of over 1 million individuals with disabilities (Timney, 2007). Ninety-five percent of these people have no rehabilitation service access (Timney, 2007). Due to the presence of social, political, and economic factors including negative societal stigma towards people with disabilities, political corruption and poverty, Ghana\u27s population is vulnerable for occupational deprivation. Occupational deprivation places this population at risk for preventing engagement in or forceful discontinuation of meaningful daily occupations such as farming, education, and employment opportunities (Whiteford, 2000; Yeoman, 1998). The U.S. has helped offer some assistance to Ghana, focusing mainly on emergencies, such as prevention of infectious diseases (Timney, 2007). This assistance has neglected to include those who are disabled. Although rehabilitation faculty from other countries have visited Ghana to provide intermittent assistance, the immense rehabilitation needs of Ghana would be best met by the retention of rehabilitation personnel within the country. In response to this need, the School of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Ghana was established in 2012; however, the program lacks permanent occupational therapy faculty to teach incoming students (Crouch, 2001). In 2013, there were only two qualified occupational therapists reported in the country (Beguin, 2013). Ghana\u27s developing occupational therapy program could be initially sustained with external assistance to develop educational coursework to train occupational therapists that will be retained in Ghana (Crouch, 2001; Timney, 2007). Therefore, the purpose of this project was to create an education resource to provide to the University of Ghana to further the development and sustainment of the occupational therapy program. A comprehensive literature review was conducted on topics related to occupational engagement, people with disabilities, and the development of an occupational therapy education program in Ghana, Africa. Research was done on the culture of this country, prevalent disabilities, adult learning style, the healthcare system, and steps that have already been taken in Ghana, Africa to develop rehabilitation services for individuals with disabilities. In addition, data was obtained from a series of needs assessments to provide a personal perspective for content of the product and targeted audience. Lastly, a personal communication interview was conducted with qualified individuals who had first-hand experience with this culture and occupational therapy to gain insight into their professional opinion of foreseen needs to address. The Person- Environment-Occupation Model has guided the data gathering process and development of the product. This information has supported the need for implementation of occupational therapy educational materials to further progress this country\u27s developing occupational therapy rehabilitation program and meet the unique needs of this population. An educational resource was developed to provide the foundational materials needed for occupational therapy students to learn about the role of this profession as well as the basic assessment and intervention strategies that meet Ghana\u27s population needs. This resource contains foundational skills that teachers and students will use to prepare occupational therapy students for meeting the unmet needs of people living with disabilities in Ghana. It is anticipated that this foundational occupational therapy educational resource will enable this profession to become better known and understood, in addition to aiding in the development of a sustainable, established, and permanent occupational therapy program in Ghana

Physical Education Programs for Handicapped Students in Iowa, 1980

This manual has been produced through the joint efforts of personnel from Drake University, Iowa State University, the Department of Public Instruction, and many other contributors interested in the improvement of physical education opportunities for handicapped pupils in Iowa. Its contents represent an effort to influence preservice and in-service personnel preparation programs toward the common objective of improved physical education programs for handicapped students as provided by both physical educators and special educators

Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Kinanthropology

The 11th International Conference on Kinantropology was held on the Nov 29 – Dec 1, 2017 in Brno and was organized by the Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University and the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb. This year was divided into several themes: sports medicine, sport and social science, sport training, healthy lifestyle and healthy ageing, sports management, analysis of human movement. Part of the conference was also a symposium Atletika and Ortoreha that gathered specialists in physiotherapy