The exploratory research to see how VR can help children with Cerebral Palsy

Design Interactive, Inc. has announced that it received an Early-concept Grant for Exploratory Research by the National Science Foundation to use VR to help children with Cerebral Palsy. The grant falls under the NSF's General & Age Related Disabilities Engineering program that supports research that will lead to the development of new technologies, devices, or software that improves the quality of life for persons with disabilities.

They will be partnering with Florida Institute of Technology, BlueOrb, Inc. and the Conductive Education Center of Orlando to explore interactive virtual reality and game-based technologies for improving physical abilities of children with Cerebral Palsy. CP is a non-progressive disorder that alters an individual's ability to control their muscles, which affects approximately 1 in every 500 births.

DI's Chief Scientist Dr. Brent Winslow is 'honored to be funded under the NSF's prestigious EaGER grant to develop tools to improve physical coordination and performance for children with cerebral palsy – the most common pediatric motor disorder.'

They will be leading a strong interdisciplinary team that will leverage the team's strengths in virtual and augmented reality, human performance, and serious games to advance therapy and outcomes for individuals living with CP.

Rosene Johnson, Executive Director of CECO shared her excitement with respect to the impact this work could have. 'While conductive education has demonstrated great results for thousands of people across the globe, this research will allow us to illustrate this in an objective and quantifiable way. This project has far reaching implications for policy, practice and sustainability in regard to innovations in health care and education for persons with motor disabilities.'