TUG
Physical Therapy Redesigned (Individual Thesis Project)
In collaboration with Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS),
MINDSVille @ Napiri, Children's Wing
BRIEF
For this 1 year thesis, I collaborated with MINDSVille Children's Wing
to develop a gaming platform that encourages children with Intellectual
Disabilities (ID) to perform fine and gross motor skill training. With
strengthened motor skills, it helps these children with improving
performances in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs).
Over a year, professional advice of Special Educators, Occupational Therapists, case officers and nurses from Metta School and MINDSVille was engaged. Observations in centres, training programmes and research forums was done to understand the current situation and
to identify current product developments applicable for these children. Prototypes and tests were done over a period of 6 months to develop a functional gaming platform that caters to the children's level of understanding and monitor improvement.
Tug is an interactive open source gaming platform aimed at children with Intellectual Disabilities. It consists of a digital platform designed to work in reaction to physical movements to captivate the
children in physical therapy, engaging and strengthening both their gross and fine motor skills.
PROTOTYPES+INSIGHTS
Prototypes were focused on bringing interactive feedback to the
motor skills activities, such that when a child performs an action,
it is reflected through the moving graphics.
However, I had to take note of some things:
1) there needs to be some form of resistance in order for the motor skill to be strengthened
2) there was a stronger need to encourage the child to initiate the task independently
3) I had to develop a method to prevent the child from cheating or performing the exercise incorrectly.
PROGRAMMING - Colour Sensing
In order to captivate children's attention and motivation to perform therapy, incorporating visuals and audio feedback was necessary. With prototypes done, programming was incorporated in to prevent the children from 'cheating' during their task, encouraging them to complete the proper movement / actions.
At the same time, Video Sensing was also incorporated - tapping onto a device's webcam, the child could act as the 'main character' of the game, seeing themselves in the screen while capturing their actions for monitoring purposes (for therapists).
Code refinement to introduce Colour Sensing so the programme reacts not only to movement but also colour, as an added 'control' to prevent cheating.
Tools helped to add resistance, to increase the difficulty levels, and isolate the children's fine motor skills.
Each tool was designed for different fine motor engagement
TOOLS - Adding Resistance
In order to perform as a 'training tool', resistance was necessary to be added into the tool.
By creating different tools for different fine motor engagement, the children could more easily understand the function of each tool without confusing or complicating each interaction.
Fine Motor
Simple tools were built to encourage the children to strengthen
their hands and small finger muscles.
With the graphics, they were encouraged to challenge their
hand-eye coordination as well.
Gross Motor
Children had to use their hands to capture the falling apples,
engaging their arms, hand-eye and bilateral coordination skills.
Gross Motor
Moving the device from the table top to the floor increased
the amount of movement required from the children.
A tweak was done to the programme, to allow for the graphics to shift up and down, where the graphics were responsive to the children's touch. Children were then challenged to use their arms and bodies to interact with the graphics instead of just on the table top, engaging their bigger or gross muscles.
THERAPY REDEFINED
By making therapy accessible and enjoyable, this thesis aims
to improve the independence of these children by strengthening
their motor skills to aid in their Activities of Daily Living (ADLs.),
giving them an active, fun and more physical therapy time.
Much thanks for the staff in MINDSVille Children's Wing for the
cooperation and support during this thesis, and of course to the
children who participated in my games! :)
