I-Corps: Programmable pediatric motor activity center for children with disabilities

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为有运动迟缓和/或障碍的婴幼儿开发一种康复玩具。在美国，大约11%的婴儿（50万）早产，在过去的25年里，美国的早产率上升了30%以上。早产与健康和发育障碍有关，包括运动迟缓。早期干预通常包括使用玩具来鼓励婴儿与环境互动并练习平衡控制。父母经常为孩子寻找适合他们发展的玩具。目前可用的玩具的一个问题是，当运动迟缓不伴有认知障碍时，那些对有运动迟缓/损伤的婴儿来说在功能上是可以接触到的玩具往往刺激不足。该设计是一个自动化的、个性化的、可编程的儿科活动中心，用于家庭或诊所，促进婴儿期和幼儿期的平衡控制和物体探索。这个I-Corps项目是基于家庭或诊所儿科活动中心的发展，以促进婴儿期和幼儿期的平衡控制和物体探索。研究表明，婴儿期对环境的直接物理探索对发展有级联效应，这种技术方法平衡了运动和认知需求，这些需求与为正常发育的儿童开发的玩具相匹配，但可能与发育迟缓的婴儿不匹配。这种新方法的一个优点是，它使玩具展示自动化，既可以促进运动活动，又可以释放护理人员的资源，这样他们就可以提供额外的支持。第二个好处是，活动中心的组成部分可以定制，这样它们就可以变得越来越具有挑战性，以适应孩子们不断变化的技能。运动迟缓的婴儿缺乏与世界互动的典型经验，这使他们在学业和社交方面处于劣势，因为早期与物体的互动会影响后来的认知、语言和社交发展。然而，早期干预和与发展相适应的游戏有可能改变发展时间表和学习轨迹，并最大限度地减少负面结果。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a rehabilitative toy for infants and young children with motor delay and/or impairment. In the United States about eleven percent of infants ( 500,000) are born prematurely and the premature birth rate in the U.S. has risen by more than thirty percent in the last 25 years. Prematurity is associated with health and developmental disabilities, including motor delay. Early intervention typically involves using toys to encourage infants to interact with the environment and to practice balance control. Parents often search for toys that are developmentally appropriate for their children. One problem with the currently available toys is that those that are functionally accessible to infants with motor delay/impairment tend to be under-stimulating when motor delay is not accompanied by cognitive impairment. The proposed design is an automatized, personalized, programmable pediatric activity center for the home or clinic that promotes balance control and object exploration in infancy and early childhood.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a pediatric activity center for the home or clinic that promotes balance control and object exploration in infancy and early childhood. Informed by research suggesting that direct physical exploration of the environment during infancy has cascading effects for development, this technological method balances motor and cognitive demands that are matched in toys developed for typically-developing children, but may be mismatched in infants with developmental delays. One advantage of this new method is that it automates the toy presentation to both foster motor activity and free up caregiver resources so they can offer additional support. A second advantage is that the components of the activity center can be custom-programmed so that they can become increasingly challenging, matching the child's changing skills. Infants with motor delays lack the typical experience of interacting with the world which puts them at an academic and social disadvantage because early interactions with objects impact later cognitive, language, and social development. However, early intervention and developmentally-appropriate play have the potential to change the developmental timeline and learning trajectory and minimize negative outcomes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.