A STUDY EXPLORING THE NATURE AND EFFECT OF INTERACTIONS IN PLAY BETWEEN CARERS AND CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY, DOWN SYNDROME AND TYPICAL DEVELOPMENT

An observational study with an emergent design of two parts, consisting of quantitative and qualitative analysis, looked at communicative interactions between carers and children. The children were drawn from three groups: Cerebral Palsy, Down syndrome and typically developing. The first part of the study utilised a secondary data set of observations of play sessions of carers with children who have Cerebral Palsy and carers of children with typical development. A continuous observational data-logging method of four verbal and six non-verbal behaviours was piloted and used with this data, and also used with observations of a further research group of carers with children who have Down syndrome, Measurement and comparison of frequencies of verbal and non-verbal behaviours was carried out. The behaviours were: verbal - questions and replies, descriptive commenting and directives; non-verbal - attention-directing, demonstrating, physically orienting, attending and exploring. Between the groups, similarities and differences were found in the frequencies of particular behaviours. Although the greatest frequency of questions and replies were by carers and children in the typically developing group, frequencies of descriptive commenting were similar across the groups. The second part of the study consisted of a qualitative analysis of two carer-child pairs from each of the three groups. Differences in individual style were found between and within the groups. Characteristics and strategies of carer's communicative interactions, and their functional relation to the attentional and responding capacities of the children, were identified and described. A clinically interesting finding was made, that the questions asked by carers of the children with Cerebral Palsy and Down syndrome, were, in the absence of replies by the children, transformed into descriptive comments. The findings of the study are discussed. The methodology, and issues of interpretation, clinical significance and future research are critically evaluated

Human-centred design methods : developing scenarios for robot assisted play informed by user panels and field trials

Original article can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/ Copyright ElsevierThis article describes the user-centred development of play scenarios for robot assisted play, as part of the multidisciplinary IROMEC1 project that develops a novel robotic toy for children with special needs. The project investigates how robotic toys can become social mediators, encouraging children with special needs to discover a range of play styles, from solitary to collaborative play (with peers, carers/teachers, parents, etc.). This article explains the developmental process of constructing relevant play scenarios for children with different special needs. Results are presented from consultation with panel of experts (therapists, teachers, parents) who advised on the play needs for the various target user groups and who helped investigate how robotic toys could be used as a play tool to assist in the children’s development. Examples from experimental investigations are provided which have informed the development of scenarios throughout the design process. We conclude by pointing out the potential benefit of this work to a variety of research projects and applications involving human–robot interactions.Peer reviewe

Preparation for transition from early years intervention to primary school for children with cerebral palsy in Singapore: Exploring the voices and experiences of parents, children and early years professionals

There is currently a gap in the literature exploring parents’ lived experiences of transition to primary school for their child with cerebral palsy (CP), especially in Singapore. Studies have shown that transition has a long-term impact on children’s future development and learning. The present qualitative study aimed to fill the gap in literature on exploring the experiences of parents and professionals of children with CP in preparation for transition from the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC) to a national primary school in Singapore. Characteristics of the children participants and their views were gathered using an adapted Mosaic approach (Clark & Moss, 2001). Semi-structured interviews and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith et al., 2009) were used to explore and analyse the lived experiences of parents. Views of EIPIC professionals were gathered in a focus group discussion (FGD). Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was used to analyse the FGD data. The inclusion of children, parents and professionals in this study enabled a triangulation in data and provided a multi-faceted overview of experiences regarding the preparation for transition to primary school. In general, children with CP focused on play and social interaction while experiencing difficulties with communicating their views and needs. Four Master Themes emerged: Parents of children with CP encountered a wide range of emotions during the preparation for school transition due to managing competing demands while seeking transition resources. Professionals in EIPIC had various roles in supporting children with CP for school transition and differentiated their approaches when working with different types of schools. The findings from the present study are particularly useful to professionals in supporting the preparation for school transition of children with CP and their parents. This study provides a starting point for future research in the area of parental support in school transition for children with CP and participatory methods in Singapore

From AAL to ambient assisted rehabilitation: a research pilot protocol based on smart objects and biofeedback

AbstractThe progressive miniaturization of electronic devices and their exponential increase in processing, storage and transmission capabilities, represent key factors of the current digital transformation, also sustaining the great development of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) and the Internet of Things. Although most of the investigations in the recent years focused on remote monitoring and diagnostics, rehabilitation too could be positively affected by the widespread integrated use of these devices. Smart Objects in particular may be among the enablers to new quantitative approaches. In this paper, we present a proof-of-concept and some preliminary results of an innovative pediatric rehabilitation protocol based on Smart Objects and biofeedback, which we administered to a sample of children with unilateral cerebral palsy. The novelty of the approach mainly consists in placing the sensing device into a common toy (a ball in our protocol) and using the information measured by the device to administer multimedia-enriched type of exercises, more engaging if compared to the usual rehabilitation activities used in clinical settings. We also introduce a couple of performance indexes, which could be helpful for a quantitative continuous evaluation of movements during the exercises. Even if the number of children involved and sessions performed are not suitable to assess any change in the subjects' abilities, nor to derive solid statistical inferences, the novel approach resulted very engaging and enjoyable by all the children participating in the study. Moreover, given the almost non-existent literature on the use of Smart Objects in pediatric rehabilitation, the few qualitative/quantitative results here reported may promote the scientific and clinical discussion regarding AAL solutions in a "Computer Assisted Rehabilitation" perspective, towards what can be defined "Pediatric Rehabilitation 2.0"