Designing play equipment to develop the social competence of children with cerebral palsy

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.This study investigated the design of play equipment for encouraging peer-to-peer social interactions amongst children with cerebral palsy aged from 4 to 6 years, as a means of developing their social competence. The focus was on developing a new conceptual model and criteria for designing this specialist play equipment and, thus, creating a level playing field for children with different manifestations of cerebral palsy. According to the statistics of the National Health Service, it is estimated that approximately 1 in 400 children is born with cerebral palsy in the UK (NHS, 2017). It is recognised that these children often have reduced social engagement, yet socialisation plays a fundamental role in development. In spite of this, there are few toys specifically developed for children with cerebral palsy and even fewer which support peer socialisation. Therefore, there is a need to develop relational play equipment for them. The research presented here is interdisciplinary and informed by a social perspective on disability. It combined theoretical investigation with design practice within an action-research approach. User-centred design was used for the design development and intervention. Observations of children with cerebral palsy and interviews with their parents and conductors were employed for collecting data about the children’s social interactions before and during the design intervention in order to determine the effectiveness of the proposed concept. Data collection was carried out at the National Institute of Conductive Education in Birmingham, England. A conceptual design model of play equipment for enhancing the social competence in children with cerebral palsy was developed. The model focused on designing semiotic content that could trigger cognitive, emotional, social and physical processes to encourage children to participate in relational play and facilitate peer-to-peer social interactions. Based on this model, design criteria were developed, integrating two interrelated sets of indicators. The first set pertained to the design position and comprised child-friendly design criteria. The second pertained to the social purpose, comprising indicators of social competence, such as social skills and self-confidence. Based on these criteria, a number of design ideas were developed, using ideation, intuitive hand sketching and brainstorming. A final idea of the thematic play environment, “Undersea Friends”, which corresponded best to the conceptual model of play equipment and met most of the design criteria and recommendations from parents and conductors, was chosen for the design intervention. “Undersea Friends” consists of the toys intended for practising particular social skills, where each toy in the play space is a creature-friend and a facilitator of children’s interactions. These toys are Octopush Olly for practising turn taking, Hexapush Hetty for practising cooperation and Larry Long Legs for sharing. Two prototype toys for this environment were developed and evaluated with children with cerebral palsy for the purposes of this study. This completed study highlights the difficulties which children with cerebral palsy may experience with peer interactions while playing. It provides a new understanding of the development of social competence through engaging children in relational play, facilitated by specialist play equipment, as well as the prototype toys of the play environment, “Undersea Friends”. This research contributes to understanding of how designers can approach the creation of such play equipment by providing design criteria, design recommendations and suggestions for further investigation

Designing Play Equipment for Children with Cerebral Palsy: the context and design guidelines

This paper presents an investigation into designing play equipment for encouraging peer-to-peer social interactions of children with cerebral palsy as a part of developing their social competence. The focus is on developing a new model of, and guidelines for designing play equipment for engaging children in peer interactions during play sessions. Research projects on the development of children with cerebral palsy have to date mainly concentrated on physical and cognitive areas or on social development through special educational programmes and training. This paper, in contrast, investigates developing social competence through empowering children to participate in open-ended peer play through a new model of play equipment

Co-designing with children with cerebral palsy: context and co-design principles

Co-design with children with cerebral palsy sets challenges for researchers and designers because of differences in their living experiences and because many current well-established co-design approaches and recommendations may not be appropriate and require adjustments. Based on an overview of existing literature, this paper identifies co-design principles and approaches for including children in the co-design process and explores how these need to be adjusted to ensure the active participation of children with disabilities, specifically those with cerebral palsy. The aim is to derive a set of key principles and related approaches for application in the Peer2Peer project, and to provide practical guidelines for researchers and designers working with children with cerebral palsy

Designing toys for children with cerebral palsy

This study presents an investigation into designing toys for encouraging peer-to-peer social interactions of children with cerebral palsy as a part of developing their social competence. The focus is on developing a new model of, and guidelines for designing toys for engaging children in peer interactions during play sessions. According to the statistics of the National Health Service, it is estimated that near 1800 children are diagnosed with cerebral palsy every year in the UK (NHS 2016). It is recognised that these children often have reduced social engagement, yet socialization plays a fundamental role in children’s development. In spite of this need, there are few toys specifically developed for children with cerebral palsy, and even fewer which support peer socialisation. We offer a new model for toy design to guide designers in creating toys for the development of the social competence of children with cerebral palsy. Here the designer’s task shifts to constructing semiotic content that can trigger cognitive, emotional and physical processes of children to encourage aspiration to interact with the designed objects and to build social interactions through these objects. This allows children to take the initiative and to think beyond the immediate interaction with an object. Toys should trigger interactions between children not only around itself but by means of itself. Based on this model, design guidelines have been developed, integrating two interrelated sets of indicators. The first set pertains to the design position and comprises child friendly design criteria. The second pertains to the social purpose, comprising indicators of social competence, such as social skills and self-confidence. Based on the guidelines, a number of design ideas were developed, using ideation, intuitive hand sketching and brainstorming. The research is interdisciplinary and steered by a social perspective on disability. It combines theoretical investigation with design practice within an action research approach. A child-centred design approach was applied with adaptation for purposes of the study. Observations of children with cerebral palsy and interviews with their parents are employed for collecting data about children’s social interactions before and after the design intervention in order to determine the effectiveness of the suggested model. The study provides new understandings of designing toys for the development of social competence for children with cerebral palsy and provides a set of design guidelines for this specialist toys