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The SITPLUS project was initiated three years ago in this centre,
with the aim of helping children with severe
mobility and cognitive problems.
Its inspiration lies in ‘cause and effect’ activities.
Starting with the voice and movements of the user
we create interactive activities
which reinforce the notion of cause and effect.
When the child moves or makes a sound
– not necessarily vocal – things happen.
What things?
Using movement, right now we are
helping children to play musical instruments.
They can choose between several instruments and different sounds.
And there are graphic images consistently
interpreting the sounds in visual form.
From the child’s oral emissions and movement,
the system generates on-screen graphics and sound,
reinforcing the causality of user action
and its impact on his/her immediate environment.
Cool!
Oh, so incredibly happy!!
This project has a strong fit with
the needs of the centre’s users:
there are many with severe physical
and cognitive challenges.
The children’s problems
mean we work a lot with basic stimuli
and this tool is proving particularly useful.
Thanks to a grant from the
PuntCAT Foundation,
we have added new motion capture devices
from Wii, for example Wiimove.
We have also added a module to the graphics package
using images that appear as a collage
based on the movement and sound generated by the user.
Tests done to date have given excellent results:
users are responding very well and
are enjoying the new activities.
Hopefully this will encourage other organisations
working with users with similar problems
to adopt the system.
SITPLUS is published as a free, open resource on the internet.
This new version is designed to be customisable,
extended and enriched with new ideas
and new graphics activities.
We hope this will encourage other organisations to develop
and enhance the system, to the mutual benefit of all users.