Center on Media and Child Health

In college, I learned about the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston. Director Dr. Michael Rich worked as a Hollywood filmmaker before becoming a pediatrician and Harvard Medical School professor, and he brings his industry expertise to the field of medicine in innovative ways. He pioneered an intervention technique that allows children with chronic illnesses to create video narratives about their lives. The Video Intervention/Prevention project aims to help others, such as clinicians, understand the daily realities patients face. It also helps ease the transition between pediatric and adult care for kids with diseases such as cystic fibrosis and spina bifida. Check out their website for more information on their different projects!

CMCH, Children's Hospital Boston

Robotic Playmates for Children with Autism

AHN has an interesting article discussing the potential use of therapeutic robots for children with autism. Robots could prove to be an economically sound solution to addressing the needs of people with autism. Though initial research demonstrates that robots can be engaging to children with autism, it remains to be seen how robotic therapy will be generalized to interactions with other human beings.

Hiatus

This blog is on temporary hiatus for a bit as I prepare for the MCAT. However, the world of virtual reality and therapy continues to hurtle forward with exciting new applications, and I would like to direct you to a few reports:

• At the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, post-stroke patients manipulated a robot in virtual environments as part of rehabilitative physical therapy. The virtual reality group walked farther and faster than a group that only used the robot. Read more here.

• GestureTek, a company whose innovations have been utilized for previous virtual reality therapeutic applications, was on display this past weekend at the Consumer Electronics Show. Read more about their new 3-D depth tracking system here.