REHABILITATIVE SOFTWARE FOR HEAD TRAUMA VICTIMS

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The goal of this effort is the development of an effective software package tailored to the needs of brain-injured patients re-learning independent living skills; it will be designed to serve as a bridge between intensive therapeutic intervention and home-based support networks. The specific aims of Phase II include improvement and expansion of the existing software and a controlled study of its efficacy. A team of health care professionals, educators, and computer specialists has been assembled for this two-year undertaking. Approximately 10 months will be spent on software improvement and expansion, coupled with informal software evaluation by a panel of head-injured patients. The concluding 14 months will be devoted to a controlled study measuring patients' neuropsychological, psychosocial, and academic status pre- and post- treatment. There will be 20 patients each in the control and experimental groups. Technological innovations include (1) provisions for parents/therapists to personalize the software to the individual patient's environment and abilities; (2) extensive record keeping in the software to track patient progress; and (3) a variety of user interactive mechanisms tailored to the needs of patients with cognitive and/or motor impairments. No such software currently exists. One of the outgrowths of this project will be a software authoring system suitable for creating programs for multiple rehabilitative and special education settings.