Browsing by Author "Perera, GYASI"

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item: Article-Full-text
Design Approach to Rehabilitation: Developing Therapy Assistive Products for Children With Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy
(2018) Perera, GYASI; Ranasinghe, WMND
Therapy plays an important role in rehabilitation of children suffering from physical disabilities. Disability conditions like Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy require vigorous therapy measures, which could be unappealing to children. Using therapy assistive products for rehabilitation can make therapy activities engaging and appealing to children and yield effective outcomes. However, there is limited availability of context based therapy assistive products, which are engaging, and appealing to children suffering from Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy. This study explores how design methodology can be used to develop therapy assistive products for rehabilitation of children with disability. The study is based on developing a set of therapy assistive products to improve the hand-skills of children with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy. Developing therapy assistive products require comprehensive understanding of therapeutic aspects, design aspects and careful integration of the two disciplines. Hence, practicing multidisciplinary and participatory design approaches in the design process is imperative. Usability of therapy assistive products are highly impactive in nature, and therefore an iterative process of prototyping, testing, receiving constructive feedback and developing the products based on feedback should be adopted to achieve feasible and functional outcomes.
item: Conference-Full-text
Product design intervention to improve hand skills of children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy
(2017) Perera, GYASI; Ranasinghe, D
Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy is a form of physical disability in childhood that cause disorders of posture and movements. Physiotherapy play an important role in rehabilitation of children with this condition. Studies revealed of reluctance among children to engage in therapy activities as the process is time consuming and intensive and as therapy assistive devices were less engaging and appealing. Thus, the need of therapy assistive devices that were engaging and effective was recognized as one of the main aspect that needed intervention in terms of product design. This was more apparent in therapy activities of upper limbs, as they involve high level of control and coordination. Accordingly, research was based on to develop designs to improve the hand skills of children. Methodology of this research was iterative with a participatory design approach. Designs were developed with the active participation of multi-disciplinary key stakeholders. Form, tactile preference, colour and movement patterns were recognized as main factors for consideration in developing therapy assistive devices. Designs were developed through prototyping, testing and development based on the feedback and observations. Design outcomes encourage gradual improvement of posture and hand skills, including, gross motor functions, fine motor functions and grip, as therapy assistive products.