Evaluation the Feasibility and Effects of Kinect-based Computer Games as UE Training Tool in Cerebral Palsy Children

Background Children with cerebral palsy (CP) usually have various limitations in function of their upper limbs. Upper limbs function training is one of the important issues in CP rehabilitation. There is a growing interest in rehabilitation specialists to integrate commercialized interactive computer play into rehabilitation programs. According to the literature research, commercialized interactive computer play could improve speed and quality of movement, for hand or upper limb function, the results were mixed. The investigators think the interactive computer play could be feasible in upper limb training among children with CP. However, the investigators should integrate the rehabilitation training concept to the computer playing in order to get better outcome from such training. The electronic experts and rehabilitation experts should work together to reach the goal. Therefore, the aims of this study are 1.to design Kinect computer games as the rehabilitation training tool for upper limbs of children with CP, 2. to assess the feasibility and effects of the Kinect computer games. Methods The investigators will spend around nine months to design the computer games. The investigators will search from the internet to download the computer games which are with no copy-right issue. The investigators will use Kinect sensor to catch the child's motion. The rehabilitation team will choose several upper limb motions which are common used in training for children with CP. Then Professor Chang's team will modify the software design to make those target motions to be the game control actions.When a prototype game is created, the investigators will invite two to four children with CP to pilot test the game. The game design will be completed till children and therapists satisfy the design. Within one year and three months the investigators will do a randomized control trial to compare the effects between the Kinect games and traditional occupational therapy (OT) in the upper limb function of children in CP. The investigators will recruit 30 children and randomize them into two groups. In each intervention section the intervention group will receive computer games training for 30 minutes and 30 minutes traditional OT. The control group will receive traditional OT for 1 hour. There are 3 sections for 1 week; the intervention period will be 8 weeks. Statistic methods Inter-group differences in baseline characteristics were evaluated using an independent t tests or Wilcoxon rank sum tests or χ2 analysis. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to determine the effects of intervention on each dependent variable. Model effects were group, time, and their interaction.