Aussie game devs fight cerebral palsy

Adelaide Now is reporting that Flinders University developers are creating games which are aimed at helping the children with cerebral palsy restore their hand function.

David Hobbs, PhD student at Flinders, said that a lack of sensory perception can often accompany the lack of motor function palsy sufferes experience, and aims to counter that ‘pins and needles’ sensation through active manipulation of vibration functions in game controllers.

Hobbs said: "Because a child with cerebral palsy’s brain has developed differently and is not used to having stimulation in the hands their brain learns to ignore the stimulation.By using these games repeatedly we hope to wake up the brain to take notice of that stimulation."

Emily Musitano (pictured) was the first to play these games, and found them very fun to play. Flinders University now aims to get a group of 100 players over the next year.

(Picture from The Advertiser: Mark Brake)

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