ABSTRACT:
Background: Gamification is the use of game elements to engage and invoke desired behaviour in users. Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have compromised eye-hand coordination and gamification may be one of the advanced therapeutics to improve sensory-motor coordination.
Objectives: to evaluate the effectiveness of gamification to improve eye–hand coordination and to identify the impact of gamification on cognition improvement.
Methodology: 30 Children with CP were selected based on their ability to clear the first stage of bubble shooting and hill climb racing car games, Gross motor functional classifications (GMFCS) grade between 1 to 4, Mini Mental State Examination Scale (MMSE) score greater than 9, Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) grade between 2 to 4. Children were assessed pre- and post-performance with outcome measures such as Alternate Hand Wall Toss Test (AHWTT), Encephal Smartphone Stroop Test Application (ESSTA), and MMSE.
Result: Outcome measures AHWTT, ESSTA, and MMSE were assessed every week for 4 weeks of the duration of Gamification and statistically analyzed with repeated measure ANOVA where Wilk’s lambda test was observed highly significant as compared to p= 0.01 for ESSTA. Competitive gaming to achieve higher scores or stages with constant feedback facilitates sensory-motor association. Bubble shooting games have vertical eye movement which gets expedited via the pyramidal system and hill climb racing car games have horizontal eye movement via the extrapyramidal system.
Conclusion: Gamification improves eye-hand coordination along with cognition in children with cerebral palsy and must be taken into consideration for neurodevelopmental training.
Keywords: Gamification, Eye-Hand coordination, Cerebral palsy.