Abstract:The use of the open-area in-home BWSS was feasible for regular home use and associated with an increase in functional mobility for a child with spina bifida.
Objective
To (1) identify types of technology that promote motor ability in children younger than 5 years of age, (2) report on the type of support these devices provide, and (3) evaluate their potential for use in the community (outside of the laboratory or clinic).
Data Sources
A literature search of PubMed was conducted in February 2019 using specific terms, including child, rehabilitation, movement, and instrumentation.
Study Selection
The search yielded 451 peer-reviewed articles, which were screened by multiple reviewers. Articles that described the use of devices for the purpose of motor rehabilitation and/or assistance (regardless of device type or body part targeted) in the age range of 0-5 years were eligible for inclusion.
Data Extraction
In conformity with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, final stage data extraction consisted of full text readings where each article was reviewed twice by 3 independent reviewers.
Data Synthesis
About half of the devices available (46%) for children younger than 5 years of age are orthotics and corrective casting devices. There are more facilitative (ie, power mobility devices) than inhibitive (ie, casting) technologies being used. Approximately 60% of the devices are designed for use by a single body part. Walking is the most common motor skill addressed. Although most of the devices were used to some degree outside of the laboratory or clinic, most of the devices available are considered investigative and are not available for commercial purchase.
Conclusions
Many types of pediatric devices to assist movement exist, but the current scope of employed devices is limited. There is a need for developing technology that allows for, if not supports, high-dosage, early, and variable motor practice that can take place in community settings.
Objective
To (1) identify types of technology that promote motor ability in children younger than 5 years of age, (2) report on the type of support these devices provide, and (3) evaluate their potential for use in the community (outside of the laboratory or clinic).
Data Sources
A literature search of PubMed was conducted in February 2019 using specific terms, including child, rehabilitation, movement, and instrumentation.
Study Selection
The search yielded 451 peer-reviewed articles, which were screened by multiple reviewers. Articles that described the use of devices for the purpose of motor rehabilitation and/or assistance (regardless of device type or body part targeted) in the age range of 0-5 years were eligible for inclusion.
Data Extraction
In conformity with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, final stage data extraction consisted of full text readings where each article was reviewed twice by 3 independent reviewers.
Data Synthesis
About half of the devices available (46%) for children younger than 5 years of age are orthotics and corrective casting devices. There are more facilitative (ie, power mobility devices) than inhibitive (ie, casting) technologies being used. Approximately 60% of the devices are designed for use by a single body part. Walking is the most common motor skill addressed. Although most of the devices were used to some degree outside of the laboratory or clinic, most of the devices available are considered investigative and are not available for commercial purchase.
Conclusions
Many types of pediatric devices to assist movement exist, but the current scope of employed devices is limited. There is a need for developing technology that allows for, if not supports, high-dosage, early, and variable motor practice that can take place in community settings.
“…This device was designed specifically for the clinic-it is single track and nonportable. The BWS device used in our work is part of a new generation of devices designed specifically for openarea, multi-level, real-world mobility (Enliten, LLC, Newark, DE) [25,26]. The first non-portable version of this series was recently documented in a pilot in-home pediatric rehabilitation study supporting gains in the mobility of a child with spina bifida that were associated with device use [26].…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The BWS device used in our work is part of a new generation of devices designed specifically for openarea, multi-level, real-world mobility (Enliten, LLC, Newark, DE) [25,26]. The first non-portable version of this series was recently documented in a pilot in-home pediatric rehabilitation study supporting gains in the mobility of a child with spina bifida that were associated with device use [26]. To be clear, the purpose of the GEAR system is to similarly assist infants with learning to use their effective movement and mobility (through the BWS device) as a means to the ends of exploring the environment and interacting socially with the robots.…”
Background: There is a lack of early (infant) mobility rehabilitation approaches that incorporate natural and complex environments and have the potential to concurrently advance motor, cognitive, and social development. The Grounded Early Adaptive Rehabilitation (GEAR) system is a pediatric learning environment designed to provide motor interventions that are grounded in social theory and can be applied in early life. Within a perceptively complex and behaviorally natural setting, GEAR utilizes novel body-weight support technology and socially-assistive robots to both ease and encourage mobility in young children through play-based, child-robot interaction. This methodology article reports on the development and integration of the different system components and presents preliminary evidence on the feasibility of the system.Methods: GEAR consists of the physical and cyber components. The physical component includes the playground equipment to enrich the environment, an open-area body weight support (BWS) device to assist children by partially counter-acting gravity, two mobile robots to engage children into motor activity through social interaction, and a synchronized camera network to monitor the sessions. The cyber component consists of the interface to collect human movement and video data, the algorithms to identify the children's actions from the video stream, and the behavioral models for the child-robot interaction that suggest the most appropriate robot action in support of given motor training goals for the child. The feasibility of both components was assessed via preliminary testing. Three very young children (with and without Down syndrome) used the system in eight sessions within a 4-week period.Results: All subjects completed the 8-session protocol, participated in all tasks involving the selected objects of the enriched environment, used the BWS device and interacted with the robots in all eight sessions. Action classification algorithms to identify early child behaviors in a complex naturalistic setting were tested and validated using the video data. Decision making algorithms specific to the type of interactions seen in the GEAR system were developed to be used for robot automation.
Conclusions:Preliminary results from this study support the feasibility of both the physical and cyber components of the GEAR system and demonstrate its potential for use in future studies to assess the effects on the codevelopment of the motor, cognitive, and social systems of very young children with mobility challenges.
BackgroundEarly dance‐based exergaming (DBExG) trials in people with chronic stroke (PwCS) have shown promising results, but there remains a lack of knowledge if PwCS are interested in receiving such training in their homes and the applicability of a fall‐protection safety harness in the home environment.ObjectiveTo survey people with chronic stroke to understand the perspectives and preferences of various customized safety harnesses for home‐based harness assisted dance‐based exergaming rehabilitation.MethodsParticipants were included in this survey study if they had a stroke, lived in the community, and understood English. Participants completed a study‐specific safety harness survey via mail, in‐person, or online. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the sample and survey responses.ResultsOne hundred two survey responses were returned. The majority of participants voted for a door mountable harness (51%), side‐release style buckle (58%), and preferred to receive a manual to explain how to use the harness (51%). Seventy‐eight percent of the participants required permission to install or use a harness system in their homes. More than half of the participants preferred exhibiting independence by strapping the harness themselves (68%), along with choosing to live independently (the ability to live in one's own home and community safely, independently, comfortably, and able also perform their activities of daily living, regardless of physical ability level) (89%).ConclusionsPwCS opted to use ShA‐DBExG in their homes. The current survey serves as a guideline to develop, customize, and prescribe home‐based ShA‐DBExG rehabilitation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
