Brief reportYouth With Cerebral Palsy With Differing Upper Limb Abilities: How Do They Access Computers?
Section snippets
Participants
The data analyzed in this report were collected as part of a larger study of motor control and computer use in 60 youth with CP and their families. This study had been approved by the Northern X Regional Ethics Committee in Auckland, New Zealand, and the Bloorview Research Ethics Board in Toronto, ON, Canada. The inclusion criteria were that participants had to be age between 13 to 25 years with a diagnosis of CP. Potential participants were recruited from tertiary level orthopedic and
Results
Sixty youth with CP, Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I to V (mean age ± SD, 16.3±3.9y; range, 13–25y; 29 male and 31 female subjects) were recruited (table 1). All 60 participants used a computer, 54 (90%) both at school and at home. Twenty-six participants (43%) had accessed computers at the library and 22 (37%) at a friend's home. Only 7 participants (12%) had used an internet cafe. Of the 58 (97%) students who attended school, 12 (20%) used laptops and desktops, 27 (45%)
Discussion
The advantages of computer use in childhood and adolescence are well recognized and include enhanced educational attainment, improved social networks, and promotion of fine motor, visual, and perceptual skills.13 For youth with CP, internet and e-mail use has particular salience, providing an opportunity to play and work within a virtual environment, enhancing societal participation. Given the benefits of computer use for youth with CP, it is surprising that they appear to have important gaps
Conclusions
These findings provide some insight into the knowledge and practical choices made by youth with CP with different abilities regarding computer access technologies. Deficits in knowledge of computer access technologies appear common, particularly around the use of accessibility options, despite these being freely available to all who use a standard computer. Both youth with CP and the clinicians who advise them need to be aware of the accessibility options within computer operating systems to
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2017, RIAI - Revista Iberoamericana de Automatica e Informatica IndustrialHuman-computer interaction for users with cerebral palsy based on head orientation. Can cursor's movement be modeled by Fitts's law?
2017, International Journal of Human Computer StudiesCitation Excerpt :Six participants with CP (one of them was MACS VI; the rest, MACS V) is indeed a small number for any study, but the fact is that these limitations are shared with most of the publications reviewed and that points out the difficulties researchers find to recruit a large population of volunteers with CP and similar levels of severity. For instance, Davies et al. (2010b) recruited 6 users MACS IV and 8 MACS V. Davies et al. (2014) and Almanji et al. (2014) recruited 9 users MACS III and 3 MACS IV, but none MACS V; Saavedra et al. (2010), 3 users with CP GMFCS III. In addition, we had to deal with the daily routines of users with CP in ASPACE-Cantabria (with tightly scheduled occupational and physical therapy, lectures, transportation, lunch times, etc.), which do not allow systematic testing.
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2015, Research in Developmental DisabilitiesCitation Excerpt :Finally, support teachers involved in social validation assessment rated as more positive the combined intervention compared to both singly proposed. Those empirical evidences are widely supported by previous studies (Davies, Chau, Fehlings, Ameratunga, & Stott, 2010; Novak et al., 2013; Oskoui, Coutinho, Dykeman, Jetté, & Pringsheim, 2013; Stasolla, Caffò, Albano, Damato, & Stella, 2013; Stasolla et al., 2013b) and allow to put forward the following considerations. First, the technology-aided system adopted represents an effective way ensuring children with cerebral palsy and extensive motor disabilities, with academic performances in school settings.
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2014, International Journal of Human Computer StudiesCitation Excerpt :The ability of individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) to access computers has not been researched in detail, though CP is the most common form of motor dysfunction affecting youth (Yeargin-Allsopp et al., 2008). CP is an umbrella term for a group of disorders of movement and/or postures which include spasticity, dyskinesia, ataxia and hypotonia (Access Economics Pty Limited, 2008). Until recently, it was believed that the prevalence of cerebral palsy had remained steady at 2 to 2.5 per 1000 live births (Yeargin-Allsopp et al., 2008), but 2002 reports suggest that the prevalence is higher, more closely approximating 3.1 per 1000 births (Yeargin-Allsopp et al., 2008).
The potential for technology to enhance independence for those aging with a disability
2014, Disability and Health JournalCitation Excerpt :However, net of access and other factors, living with a disability is still strongly associated with lower computer and internet use.34,35 Interfaces for accessing online information are designed for young mainstream users, and persons with sensory, physical or intellectual disabilities have difficulty with input devices and content displays.36,37 For adults with intellectual disabilities, access to computers appears to matter less than family attitudes and knowledge, and training opportunities.37
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