News

posted on 28-7-2020)

Thesis defence Wendy Aertssen - Monday October 12 10.30

The manuscript of Wendy Aertssen has been approved by the manuscript committee. Wendy will defense her thesis on October 12 at 10.30 in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen.


(posted on 28-7-2020)

Thesis defence Suzanne Verver - Wednesday October 7 15.30

The manuscript of Suzanne Verver has been approved by the manuscript committee. Suzanne will defense her thesis on October 7 at 15.30 in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen.  


 
(posted on 28-7-2020)

Thesis defense Marjolein Jongbloed-Pereboom - Monday July 6 10.30

On Monday July 6 at 10.30, Marjolein Jongbloed-Pereboom defended her thesis 'Learning by doing: Lessons learned on expliciet and implicit motor learning in children' in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen.  


 

(posted on 1-2-2020)

New colleagues in our team 

Last year, two new colleagues joined our team. More information about the research projects of Carlijn Veldhorst and Gwennyth Spruijtenburg can be found here. 


 
(posted on 26-7-2019)

Thesis defence Femke van Abswoude - Tuesday September 3 12.30

In May, the manuscript of Femke van Abswoude has been approved by the manuscript committee. Femke will defense her thesis on September 3 at 12.30 in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen.


(posted on 22-7-2019)

Bert Steenbergen receives an NWO grant for research into an active lifestyle during life transitions

As part of the National Science Agenda (NWA) program, a grant has been awarded to the TRansition Into Active Living (TRIAL) proposal. The proposal has been approved with an amount of 1.7 million euros. The aim of the research is to keep people physically active during important transitions in life. Dutch society from young to old is becoming more and more physically inactive. This interdisciplinary project, TRansition Into Active Living (TRIAL), uses the social network of the individual to bring about long-term change in active behaviour during important life transitions. The focus of this project is on the transition from primary to secondary education, from education to work and the birth of a first child. Instruments are developed within the project with which professionals can encourage people to become and remain active.

The research has a unique interdisciplinary character, combining pedagogy, sociology, psychology and data science. This approach is essential because monodisciplinary approaches have not successfully contributed to a sustainable, active lifestyle. 


(posted on 22-7-2019)

New website Active Living 

We have launched a website for the interfaculty theme of Sport and Exercise that started in 2018. On this website we will post news and updates: www.ru.nl/activeliving. On this website it is announced that we received a grant of 1,7 million euro for our project TR(ansitions) I(nto) A(ctive) L(iving) from the National Science Agenda scheme.


(posted on 22-7-2019)

Hilde Krajenbrink receives Henderson award for best oral presentation

During the 13th International Conference on Developmental Coordination Disorder in Jyväskyla in Finland, Hilde received the Henderson award for best oral presentation. 

Here you can read the abstract of the research:
The research focused on motor planning in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The aim of the study was to examine if motor planning in children with DCD is impaired as compared to typically developing (TD) children using a grasping task that can only be completed when the grasping movement is planned in advance. Participants were children 5-12 years old. Data of 14 children with (suspicion of) DCD and 14 gender- and age-matched TD children were presented. Motor planning was measured using a new version of the hexagonal knob task in which participants needed to grasp and rotate a knob. The aim was to complete the rotation movement in a single movement without adjusting the initial grip. Participants performed 48 trials in total: 24 control trials (i.e., 60 degree and 120 degree turn) and 24 critical trials (i.e., 180 degree and 240 degree turn). In the latter, comfort of the initial grip needed to be sacrificed in order to successfully ccomplete the task. Preliminary results indicated that both children with DCD and TD children demonstrate a higher degree of motor planning on a task that necessiates preplanning in order to be able to complete the task, but performance strongly depends on task complexity. In addition, children with DCD seem to show a higher degree of task failures as compared to TD children.


(posted on 10-09-2018)

VIMP grant for implementation of handbook Parcticipation in Sports

With this ‘dissemination and implementation impulse’ of ZonMw, the project Participation in Sports will implement the handbook Tailor-made Training and Coaching for Everyone within mainstream education. Over the past year, this handbook has been evaluated by physical education teachers in special education. It was found that the handbook, aimed at applying implicit motor learning paradigms for children with motor difficulties, matched well with the teaching methods that these teachers already use. Now the handbook will be implemented in mainstream education, where physical education teachers increasingly need to adapt their lessons to children with motor difficulties, without having the required experience.


(posted on 7-5-2018)

Dalina Delfing, student of the Research Master Cognitive Neuroscience, receives the Neuronus award for the best oral presentation in Cognitive Science

During the Neuronus conference in Krakow, Poland, Dalina Delfing gave an oral presentation about her research project. Dalina works as an intern at the Behavioral Science Institute of the Radboud University at the group of prof. Bert Steenbergen. Her project entitled, “Examining the motor observation and motor imagery capacity of typically developing children and children with unilateral cerebral palsy – an EEG study’’ and is supervised by dr. Marijtje Jongsma. Within this project, we investigate the amount of activation in the cortical motor areas when children are either watching hand movements, performing hand movements, or when they imagine that they are executing such movements. Because previous research showed that in adults the motor areas are activated during the observation and imagination of hand movements, these techniques could be useful for rehabilitation programs.  We observed that children show activations of motor areas during both action observation and motor imagery. However, in children with unilateral CP, less activation was measured over the damaged hemisphere. In addition, more pronounced activation was observed during the observation of movement than during the imagination of movement in this group. For more information see: http://neuronusforum.pl/Awards/.  

The abstract of research: Examining the motor observation and motor imagery capacity of typically developing children and children with unilateral cerebral palsy – an EEG study 
D. Delfing, C.M van Rijn, R.H.J. van der Lubbe, B. Steenbergen & M.L.A. Jongsma (2018) 
Studies with adult stroke patients showed that explicit motor imagery (MI) is an effective therapy tool within rehabilitation. However, studies addressing the effect of MI-based interventions in children with motor impairments hint at a compromised MI ability in this population. To determine whether and from which age children with unilateral cerebral palsy (uCP) would benefit from MI training, two studies were conducted. In study one, the effect of age on the MI ability in typically developed (TD) children was examined. In study two, the MI ability in children with uCP was examined. In both studies, the EEG signal was recorded during an EO (eyes open), an AO (action observation), a ME (motor execution) and a MI condition. We examined the mu rhythm, which is normally suppressed during AO, ME and MI compared to EO. In TD children, when analyzing the mu rhythm during AO and MI, mu-suppression was observed in both conditions. However, no age-related differences were found. In children with uCP, mu-suppression was observed in both conditions over the non-affected hemisphere. The affected hemisphere only showed mu-suppression during AO. Our findings suggest that MI ability in children with uCP is compromised. However, AO might be useful in rehabilitation programs.


(posted on 28-03-2018)

Thesis defence Gitta de Vaan - Monday July 2 10:30

The doctoral thesis of Gitta de Vaan has been approved by the manuscript committee. Gitta will defend her thesis 'Autism spectrum disorder in people with multiple disabilities' on Monday July 2nd in public at 10.30 a.m.. Two days later Mathijs Vervloed will present an overview of this study at the conference Childhood visual impairment and mental health: science into practice, at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London 2nd – 4th July 2018, under the title: Children with multi-sensory needs: cognitive and psychological needs.


(posted on 28-03-2018)

InZicht Ontmoetingsdag 2018 

Several weeks ago, at February 19th, the ‘InZicht Ontmoetingsdag: Activating independence by means of innovative technology’ took place at Bartiméus Sonneheert. Recent technological development offers new possibilities for people with visual impairments to become increasingly independent and in control of their daily life. During a poster presentation, Suzanne Verver shared some insights on possibilities of Smart toys to facilitate play and social interaction in children with a visual impairment. If you would like to know more about the Inzicht Ontmoetingsdag and the research project on Smart toys, please take a look at the website (see: ‘Flitspresentaties’ and ‘Workshops’). 


(posted on 23-01-2018)

Project Com in Beeld nominated for Johanna Kinderfonds price 2018

The project Com in Beeld is nominated for the Johanna Kinderfonds price 2018. The result will be announced during the congress on March 9, 2018. Here you can find more information about the nomination.


(posted on 22-01-2018)

Episode 'Het LAB'

Based on a recently published EEG study, Marijtje Jongsma appeared in an episode of the Dutch program 'Het LAB' from the Universiteit van Nederland and National Geographic. You can find the episode here (in Dutch).


(posted on 28-11-2017)

Marijtje Jongsma "Professional of the year"

On November 23rd 2017 Marijtje Jongsma has been awarded the title of “Professional of the year” 2017 by the VCP. More information can be found here.


(posted on 28-11-2017)

Visit and presentation Nicky Ryan

On Monday November 20 Nicky Ryan, Occupational Therapist at Rocky Bay, Western Australia gave a presentation at the department. She visited the department as part of herRocky Bay Foundation Scholarship which is aimed at gaining an international perspective and starting new collaborations.


 (posted on 10-10-2017)

Thesis defence Imke Adams - Thursday January 11 10.30

In September, the manuscript of Imke Adams has been approved by the manuscript committee. Imke will defense her thesis on January 11th at 10.30 , in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen. A digital version of the thesis can be found here.


 

(posted on 06-10-2017)

Handbook Participation through sports

The new version of our handbook is ready! It is a handbook of activities and media cards that are also suitable for the children themselves. The media cards are maps with illustrations of the movements that the children can use as an example and that can help them in remembering what to do. Our goal is to increase the activity competence of these children by using the handbook and the media cards so that they can participate better during physical education, sports games and sports training. If you want more information about the handbook (free of charge), feel free to contact us by sending an email to info@meedoenmetsport.nl.


 

(posted on 24-05-2017)

New colleagues starting this summer

From the 1st of July Jorge Lopes, a PhD student from Brazil, will join our research team. In addition, from September 1st Hilde Krajenbrink will start with her PhD project in our research group. Her research will focus on children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). 


 

(posted on 26-04/-017)

Presentations during EACD conference - May 17-20th Amsterdam

On May 17-20th the EACD conference will take place in Amsterdam. The overaching theme is this year 'Steps into the future'. Several oral presentations, instructional courses and poster presentations are given by members of our research group. For more information about the conference, click here. An overview of the presentations given by members of our research group can be found here.


 

(posted on 26-04-2017)

Thesis defence Jan Middelkamp, Tuesday July 4th, 14.30

On Tuesday July 4th Jan Middelkamp will defend his thesis named ''The transtheoretical model of behaviour change and exercise behaviour in fitness clubs' at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. Click here for an abstract of his thesis.
More information about the thesis defence will follow soon.


 

(posted on 27-3-2017)

Workshop during mini-conference 'Social Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in General Education'

On March 24, 2017 Mathijs Vervloed has given a workshop on the mini-conference social inclusion Social Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in General Education on the use of a smart toy to promote play and social interaction in children with visual impairment in mainstream education. On this mini-conference 40 scholars from Europe, the US and Australia met to discuss results of studies on social inclusion of students with disabilities. Recurrent subjects were that simply placing children with disabilities in a class room with children without disabilities (contact hypothesis: acceptance starts with meeting) does not suffice for inclusion to work, and that a lot of work has to be done to convince teachers in primary and secondary education that inclusion of students with disabilities is needed and worthwhile.


 

(posted on 31-01-2017)

Thesis defence Ingar Zielinski - Friday June 30th 14.30

In January, the manuscript of Ingar Zielinski has been approved by the manuscript committee. Ingar will defense her thesis on June 30th at 14.30, in the Aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen. More information will follow. 


 

(posted on 25-01-2016)

Report visit dr. John Hay & prof. dr. Andy Gordon

In January, dr. John Hay from Brock University (Canada) and prof. dr. Andy Gordon of Teachers College Columbia University (VS) visited our research group. On Wednesday, our research group the various research projects that are running currently, and there was ample room for discussion. On Thursday, dr. John Hay provided a colloquium and workshop. During the colloquium he explained the 5W (who, what, when, where and why) approach to measuring children's participation. In the afternoon, during the workshop the ICF Health Model was used to discuss the link between activity and participation in children. In addition, prof. dr. Andy Gordon presented his research on unimanual and bimanual training for children with cerebral palsy. The possibilities for home-based training, and the experiences with summer training camps for children with cerebral palsy were discussed. Furthermore, prof. Andy Gordon was one of the opponents during the thesis defense of Yvonne Geerdink. 


 

(posted on 20-12-2016)

Colloquium and workshop 'Measuring children's activity' by dr. John Hay (Brock University) - January 19th 2017

From January 17th to 20th dr. John Hay will visit our research group. Dr. Hay has been involved in understanding and measuring physical activity throughout his entire career. He has worked with clinical populations ranging from Crohn's Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Developmental Coordination Disorder, Epilepsy, and Leukemia among others. His activity measurement scales - the Habitual Activity Estimation Scale (HAES) and Participation Questionnaire are widely used internationally as is his measure of children's generalized self-efficacy toward physical activity, the CSAPPA scale (Children’s Self-perceptions of Adequacy in and Prediction for Physical Activity).  On January 19th dr. Hay will provide both a colloquium and a workshop at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. More information about the colloquium and workshop can be found here. You can sign up for the workshop by sending an email to Sandra van Cappellen: s.vancappellen@pwo.ru.nl. It is not necessary to sign up for the colloquium.


 

(posted on 6-10-2016)

Care pathway 'Sialorrhea' (chronic drooling)

Recently, an international multidisciplinairy expert group developed an AACPDM care pathway 'sialorrhea'. Jan van der Burg, senior researcher and member of our research group, helped with the development of this care pathway. It consists of a practical summary of evidence informed guidelines, including an algorithm, for assessment and treatment for drooling in individuals with childhood-onset disabilities. References of published evidence and practical tools are also included. The Sialorrhea Care Pathway is easy accessible for both parents and professionals and provides them with up-to-date information on the assessment, treatment and management of sialorrhea. See:  www.aacpdm.org/carepathways  


 
(posted on 29-9-2016)

Results Tempus Project 'Curriculum and skill development in vision rehabilitation'

From 2014 to September 2016 Bert Steenbergen en Mathijs Vervloed have cooperated in an EU financed Tempus project 'Curriculum and skill development in vision rehabilitation'. In this project physiotherapists, occupational therapists, optometrists and behavioural scientists from Jordan and Palestine were trained  in rehabitating children with visual and multiple disabilities. Click here for more information about the results. 


 

(posted on 22-8-2016)

Thesis defence Steffie Spruijt - Friday October 7th, 10.30

'Motor imagery in children: the development of mentally representing movements' Promotor: prof. dr. B. Steenbergen
Co-promotor: dr. J. van der Kamp More information can be found on the website of the Radboud University, click here.
Click here for the complete thesis. 


 

(posted on 27-6-2016)

Report of PhD defence Masoud Salavati

On June 14th Masoud Salavati has defended his PhD thesis succesfully. The overarching aim of this dissertation was to contribute to the recognition and understanding of the presence of CVI in children with CP and, as a result, to adequate care and support for these children.
Click here for more information and a photo. 


 

(posted on 24-6-2016)

Moving with a motor disorder Recently an article about the project 'Participation in sports' has been published in the journal 'Sportgericht'. Bert Steenbergen & John van der Kamp explain in this article which goals have already been achieved, and which products will be developed for trainers and coaches. Click here for the full article (in Dutch).


 

(posted on 27-5-2016)

Colloquium Karen Caeyenberghs From June 8th till June 10th professor Karen Caeyenberghs will visit our research group. Prof. Karen Caeyenberghs is now senior research fellow at the School of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, ACU, Melbourne, Australia. She is a broadly experienced scientist who has become acquainted with a variety of medical imaging techniques, including functional MRI and diffusion MRI, to address prominent problems of motor and cognitive control in the daily life of patients. On June 9th she will present a colloquium entitled: Dynamics of the Structural Connectome Underlying Cognitive Training. For more information about the colloquium, click here.


  (posted on 27-5-2016) Thesis defence - Masoud Salavati - June 14th, 11.00 'Assessing gross motor function, functional skills, and caregiver assistance in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and cerebral visual impairment (CVI)' Promotors: prof. C.P. van der Schans, prof. B. Steenbergen  More information can be found on the website of the University of Groningen, and on this invitation (in Dutch). 


  (posted on 28-4-2016) EACD conference Stockholm - June 1-4 From June 1st till June 4th seven researchers from our research group will attend the EACD congres in Stockholm. They will give a couple of presentations, among others a mini-symposium about action observation training. For an overview of the presentations by members of our research group, click here


(posted on 29-2-2016) “Practical EEG skills workshop” at ACU, Melbourne Campus From the 5th till the 7th of April a practical EEG workshop will be given by Bert Steenbergen and Ingar Zielinski at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) in Melbourne. For the programme and more information, please click here.


  (posted on 25-2-2016) Workshop implicit learning during the Day of Swimming Education On April the 19th we give a workshop during the Day of Swimming Education (in Dutch). In this workshop we show concrete examples of how implicit learning can be explicitly used in swimming lessons. Click here for more information.


(posted on 25-2-2016) Lecture DCD for patient organisation Balans On February the 25th Bert Steenbergen and Imke are giving a lecture about DCD and improvement of motor skills. An interview with Bert is published in Balans Magazine. You can download a PDF of the interview here


  (posted on 9-2-2016) Third article in a series of three on implicit and explicit teaching methods in physical education In the journal LO the third article from Elise van Casteren appeared. This article is about the comparison of implicit and explicit teaching methods in physical education at high schools. The article can be downloaded here (in Dutch).


  (posted on 27-1-2016) Our first ‘visualized’ article JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, is the world's first peer reviewed scientific video journal. It is devoted to publishing scientific research in a visual format, especially to make reproducibility of scientific work easier. In January 2016 our research group published its first paper in this new visual format, presenting a protocol for using event-related potentials (ERPs) to study possible cognitive aspects of developmental movement restrictions in children. To watch this protocol, click here.


  (posted on 18-1-2015) Kids with camera's The project Cortical (re)organization in children with Cerebral Palsy has recently received attention in the media, during the Dutch television program Kids with camera’s. Click on this link to view this program. The link refers to the complete episode. The part that is specifically focussed on our project starts at 29:27 minutes.


  (posted on 1-12-2015) Newsletter project 'Participation in sports' Click here for the latest newsletter of the project 'Participation in Sports'


  (posted on 30-11-2015) Symposium echolocation: February 5th 2016 On February 5th 2016, a symposium on echolocation will take place at the Radboud University. This symposium is entitled “Optimising echolocation in orientation and mobility”. Several national and international speakers will present their research. Furthermore, an echolocation user will elaborate on his own experiences with using echolocation in daily life. For more information and registration, click here.


  (posted on 30-11-2015) New colleague: Sandra van Cappellen From mid-November 2015, Sandra van Cappellen is replacing Elise Casteren. She introduces herself, in the attached document


  (posted on 3-11-2015) First article in a series of three on implicit and explicit teaching methods in physical education This article is the first in a series of three on implicit and explicit teaching methods in physical education. In this first article, the development of a practically useful classification of implicit and explicit learning methods are described. In the following two articles applications are covered, which explore how often in special and mainstream secondary education, teachers apply implicit and explicit learning methods in their gym class. This series of articles about implicit and explicit teaching methods in physical education was developed within a researchproject funded by NOW called 'Participating in Sport'. A summary of this article can be found here (in Dutch).


  (posted on 22-9-2015) Donation for Smart Toys Project The Pruijsen family has donated an amount of 750 euros to the Smart toys project last month. During the celebration of Kingsday, friends of the family and the Oranjevereniging Wilhelmina of Sprang-Capelle collected money for the daughter of the family, a girl with a visual impairment. The parents used part of the money to buy her a push-bike and a trampoline, to improve her balance. Subsequently, they decided to donate the rest of the money to two organizations or projects that focus on people with visual impairments. The Smart toys project and Villa Pardoes, a holiday destination for severely ill children, were then selected. We shall use this donation to develop a new smart toy, which will be given to an elementary school for children with visual impairments. Koninklijke Visio, Bartiméus and the research team of the Radboud University want to thank the Pruijsen family for this lovely gesture!


  (posted on 17-9-2015) Visit and colloquium prof. Christine Imms, 5-7 october From October 5th till October 7th professor Christine Imms will visit our research group. Christine is National Head of School of Allied Health, Director of the Centre for Childhood Disability Research, Australian Catholic University. One of her main research topics focuses on participation of children with disabilities. On October 7th she will present on a colloquium entitled: Participation trajectories: aspirations and challenges in childhood disability research. For more information about the colloquium, click HERE


  (posted on 15-9-2015) Visit from Semarang University From September 21th to September 24th , 4 colleagues from UNIKA – Soegijapranata Catholic University, Semarang, University will visit our department to follow a custom made intensive course on Neuropsychology. 


  (posted on 8-9-2015) Symposium: 'Promoting Participation: Towards tailor made therapy for children with Cerebral Palsy' On October 15th, our research group is organizing an international symposium entitled “Promoting Participation: Towards tailor made therapy for children with Cerebral Palsy”. There will be presentations from many international speakers, with Dr. Dido Green and Prof. Dr. Martin Staudt presenting as main speakers. For a detailed program and for a link to sign up for this symposium, click HERE.


  (posted on 27-7-2015) dr. Jongsma visits Australian Catholic University - July 27th till August 6th As part of a long-term collaboration with prof. Peter Wilson of the ACU (Australian Catholic University), Marijtje Jongsma is on a working visit to ACU from July 27th till August 6th to set up an ERP lab and address an ERP skills training. See also the attachment.


(posted on 9-7-2015) Report DCD conference Toulouse From July 2nd to 4th the DCD conference in Toulouse was organized. Since 2012 we started with research about children with Developmental Coordination Disorder in our research group. During the conference, dr. Jessica Lust and Imke Adams have presented the results of their research. In addition, prof. Bert Steenbergen has joined the internal consensus group of DCD during the conference. It was an inspiring conference, where we gathered lots of new ideas for future research!


  (posted on 4-6-2015) Report Johanna Kinderfonds conference On Friday the 22th of May, several researchers of our research Group visited the conference of the Johanna Kinderfonds at Groot Klimmendaal in Arnhem (the Netherlands). During this conference the importance of collaboration between researchers, caregivers and patients in research on child rehabilitation was emphasized. Not only during the execution of research, but also during the designing phase of a research project, caregivers and patients should be closely involved. During this conference, several poster presentations were given by researchers of our group. In addition, dr. Marijtje Jongsma provided a lecture about the possible applications of EEG diagnostics to optimize rehabilitation programs. For an overview of these posters and the presentation of dr. Marijtje Jongsma, click here.


(posted on 4-5-2015) The Smart toys are being built right now! We are busy preparing everything for the Smart toys research project. The knights’ castle has arrived and has been built. At the moment, electronic devices are added to the castle so that different kinds of sounds and music will be produced when the play figures are placed inside the castle. We hope that the first children will play with the Smart toys this September. Click here for a photo of the knights' castle. For more information about this research project, click here.


  (posted on 28-4-2015) MRI-EEG experiment in adolescents with a unilateral cerebral palsy (CP) This summer, we will be inviting adolescents with unilateral CP to participate in a MRI-EEG experiment. In order to give them an impression about what to expect during the experiment the following video was made by Etnos film. Click here for the video.


(posted on 28-4-2015) Newsletter 'Participation in Sports' This is the third newsletter of the project ‘Participation in sports’. 
Click here for the newsletter. 


  (posted on 8-4-2015) Thesis defence – Maaike van Rooijen – June 9th, 12.30
‘Development of early numeracy in children with cerebral palsy: The influence of motor and cognitive factors’
Promotors: prof. B. Steenbergen en prof. L. Verhoeven More information can be found on the website of the Radboud University, click here.


  (posted on 8-4-2015) Visit of prof. Peter Wilson – May 13-26 Professor Peter Wilson will visit our research group from May 13th till 26th. Prof. Peter Wilson is affiliated with the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, Australia. We collaborate with prof. Peter Wilson in several projects, and prof. Bert Steenbergen regularly visits the university in Melbourne, where he is professorial fellow at the Australian Catholic University. After his visit in Nijmegen, prof. Peter Wilson will attend several conferences in Europe, amongst others the EACD conference in Copenhagen (May 27th – 30th) and the DCD conference in Toulouse (July 2-4th). Prof. Wilson will also lecture in the honours course ‘Embodied cognition’. 


  (posted on 8-4-2015) Elements system in Nijmegen  The research Group ‘Beweging in Zicht’ recently acquired a new tool for upper-limb rehabilitation, the Elements system. The Elements system uses low-end technologies to achieve stable movement tracking, flexible and attractive presentation of virtual environments, augmented feedback and automated recording of performance data. It was developed in Australia (Prof. Wilson, Australian Catholic University in collaboration with co-workers) It consists of tabletop LCD, camera tracking system, tangible user interfaces (i.e. graspable objects of basic shape) and software. The Elements system has been used in the rehabilitation process of adults, but also seems promising for the use in children. 


  (posted on 4-2-2015) Start two new research projects Recently, two new research projects have been started in the research group 'Beweging in Zicht'. At January 1st, a research project started in which two home-based protocols aimed at improving bimanual performance in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) will be developed and tested. Marlous Schnackers is the PhD candidate who will work on this project in Nijmegen. Additionally, at February 1st another project has been started which focuses on play and social interaction in children with visual impairments augmented by smart toys. Suzanne Verver is the PhD candidate that will work on this project. In the upcoming weeks a more detailed description of both research projects will be published on our website.