To help Nora become aware of her body schema

 
A little girl with brown hair smiling. She is wearing a white scarf and a pink shirt.
 

About Nora

Nora is a 5 year old girl. She has excellent comprehension skills that are probably consistent with a child her age. She needs to be addressed in appropriate language. Nora is beginning to discover communication through a visual computer. She is very good at pointing with her eyes when she has to choose between two pictograms. Nora needs to be in good conditions (reassuring, safe) to be able to communicate.

Nora moves around Clair Bois in a therapeutic chair pushed by the adult: she is dependent on the adult for daily gestures. Indeed, she presents a spastic tetraparesis with central axial hypotonia and therefore has a very limited voluntary motricity. She can, on the other hand, voluntarily move her head from left to right and from front to back. Moreover, she has kept a very good ocular motricity. Nora appreciates the relationship with adults, she is very connected to them.

Challenge

Nora has no control over her lower and upper limbs. She suffers daily from spasms and uncontrolled movements that overwhelm her and cause pain and anxiety. Nora needs to invest her body to better perceive and become aware of it. We solicit HackaHealth to create a sensor system, sensitive to the muscular contractions of her body contractions of her body, which would allow her to visualize and feel the links of causalities (luminous, visual, sound).

Solution

The team designed a solution to help Nora become aware of the localization of her movements, by using EMG system to detect them, in order to allow her to understand where the feelings come from and ultimately take control of them. The EMG signals are measured and give the user two types of feedback : informative (LED strips on movement area) and rewarding (an 3D VR application with animations).

A rectangular box made of wood where the name "Nora" is engraved, together with colorful little stickers. Two buttons are located on the side of the box.
On the left, EMG sensors fixed on elastic bands. On the right, the inside of the wooden box with motors and cables.
 
The app concept for the feedback for the measurement of EMG signals.

On the left: an illustration of a woman and a dog sitting under a parasol on the beach with sunny weather. The text under reads: “Rest screen: Relaxing animation with elements that Nora likes”.

In the middle: an illustration of a women and a dog sitting under a parasol on the beach with sunny weather. A cute cat appears in the front. The text under reads: “voluntary move screen: an animal she likes comes say hello”.

On the right: an illustration of a women and a dog sitting under a parasol on the beach under cloudy weather. Some music notes show a song is playing. The text under reads “Spasm screen: the weather becomes cloudy and a soothing song starts.”