The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Designers: Andres Afanador, Laura Malone
Client Coordinators: Barbara Tapper, PT

INTRODUCTION:

Our client, a girl with spastic cerebral palsy, has difficulty in accessing many commercial toys.  We modified two different toys so that she could access them to play independently or with her peers.

Like many children, our client loves blowing bubbles.  However, she is not capable of blowing bubbles, or using a bubble blowing toy.  For this toy, we adapted a commercial bubble blowing toy so that she can do this activity independently.  The bubble gun holder stabilizes the toy to her wheelchair laptray or to a desk.  It is equipped with a handle to ease triggering and dampens spastic pulls.  The movements involved with the bubble gun are important for strengthening the shoulders and back.

In addition, the client likes to “play” the Connect Four® game, and make different patterns with the colored checkers.  However, the slots at the top of the game unit are too small for her to place the checkers independently.  For this project, we placed funnels at the top of the slots to improve accessibility.  This helps to improve her motor control as she tries to drop checkers into the desired slot.  Further modifications allowed the entire unit to tilt forward so that she didn’t have to reach so high to the top of the funnels.

SUMMARY OF IMPACT:

These devices enable our client to interact with other children during leisure time, while helping to improve strength and motor control.  In addition, these devices can be used independently if desired.

Figure 1a: the bubble gun adaptation.

Figure 1b: the Connect Four adaptation.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION:

The bubble gun holder rests on a 7”x7” white ¼” acrylic base, and is made out of 1 1/4” PVC joints.  The handle of the gun fits in one opening of the PVC design while a bubble-solution well sits on top of the other end.  A rubber lined clamp is located between the trigger and handle of the gun to dampen the force of the spastic pulls.  Colored straps tie the gun to the holder.  One-eighth inch colored rope is fed through the ring-shaped trigger and is wrapped around a ¼” dial to create a handle.  The bubble gun can be easily removed from the holder for cleaning.

The Connect Four® adapter is made out of 1/16” clear acrylic.  A 3 ¼” tall inverted pyramid-shaped funnel with a rectangular base runs the length of the game unit.  The opening is 3 ¼” wide at the top and 0.37” wide at the bottom where it meets the slots.  Colored triangular dividers separate the slots to improve visibility.  The adapter and game unit are bonded together by an acrylic adhesive.  The unit is attached to a base, which clamps to the client’s lap tray for stability.  Because it is difficult for the client to reach up high enough to drop checkers in the slots, the entire unit is hinged so that it can be tilted toward her.  Custom acrylic pieces are attached to the base to limit the tilting to an appropriate angle.

The total cost of materials was $99.