REHABILITATIVE SOFTWARE FOR HEAD TRAUMA VICTIMS

EACH YEAR THERE ARE 70,000 NEW HEAD TRAUMA VICTIMS WHOSE PRIMARY MEDICAL AND LONG-TERM REHABILITATION COSTS PLACE TREMENDOUS FINANCIAL BURDENS ON THEIR FAMILIES. THE NEED IS GREAT FOR LOW-COST REHABILITATION TOOLS THAT CAN BE USED IN THE HOME TO SUPPLEMENT AND PHASE I OF THIS EFFORT WILL EXPLORE THE VIABILITY OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTED ON APPLE COMPUTERS. FIVE SAMPLE MODULES THAT TEACH SOME OF THE SKILLS A KEY ELEMENT OF THE SOFTWARE DESIGN IS THE PROVISION FOR MODIFICATION BY PARENTS AND THERAPISTS UNTRAINED IN COMPUTING TO TAILOR THE PROGRAMS TO THE NEEDS AND ENVIRONMENTS OF INDIVIDUAL HEAD TRAUMA VICTIMS. TO THIS END, A PERSONALIZED USER DATABASE WILL BE CREATED. PHASE II WILL INVOLVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADDITIONAL MODULES AND A CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT TO DETERMINE THE EFFICACY OF THE SOFTWARE. ONE OF THE EVENTUAL OUTCOMES OF THIS PROJECT WILL BE A SOFTWARE AUTHORING SYSTEM SUITABLE TO CREATING PROGRAMS FOR OTHER REHABILITATIVE AND SPECIAL EDUCATION NEEDS.