%0 Generic
%9 Master's Thesis
%A Sibenaller, Sara Marie
%D 2008
%F pittir:8861
%K Cerebral Palsy; Computer Access; Human Computer Interaction; Isometric Joystick; Movement Disorder
%T Investigation of Unintentional Movement in People with Cerebral Palsy to Improve Computer Target Aquisition
%U http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/8861/
%X People with Cerebral Palsy (CP) have difficulty using computer pointing devices due to unintentional movement in their upper extremities. Fifty percent of people with CP have impaired arm-hand function which limits their ability to interface with pointing devices and effectively control cursor movement on the computer screen. This thesis involves two studies which utilize an Isometric Joystick in order to access the computer and complete target acquisition tasks. The first study titled "Quantification of Cursor Movement of People with Athetoid and Spastic Cerebral Palsy to Improve Target Acquisition," aims to guide real-time digital filter development for people with athetoid and spastic CP for target acquisition tasks. By investigating the cursor movement measures throughout the target acquisition trajectory we gained a better insight as to when and how to compensate for unintentional movement in people with CP. Results showed that both people with athetoid CP and spastic CP have more difficulty hovering over the target than they did moving to the target, indicating that filter development should focus on the hovering portion of the target acquisition task in order to improve target acquisition time. The second study titled "Customized Control for People with Athetosis and Dystonia to Improve Computer Access," aims to develop a method to prescribe appropriate switch/scanning control for people with athetosis and dystonia as well as to determine if customized switch/scanning control is more effective in completing icon selection tasks than the proportional isometric control. Results of this study suggest that switch/scanning control could be useful in moving on the most direct path to the target as shown by a significantly smaller percent distance error for customized control as compared to proportional isometric control (F(1,6) = 361.2, p < 0.01).