Assessment and Telerehabilitation of Cognitive and Motor Skills in Children With Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (Tablet Project)

The development and application of new technologies to support functional assessment and rehabilitation pathways for neurodevelopmental disabilities allow the evaluation and enhancement of cognitive, motor, and speech abilities within a more playful and motivating context. In fact telerehabilitation programs foster access to rehabilitative services and permit the delivery of a wide range of neuropsychological, motor, speech and communication interventions, even for patients unable to frequently attend a clinical institution (distance from the hospital, parental work employment, etc.), by overcoming geographic barriers. In this scenario, new technologies guarantee significant time- and cost-saving, shortening hospitalization and delivering the rehabilitative process at home, in a more ecological context (American Telemedicine Association, 2017) therefore enforcing the generalization of the achieved competences. Another great advantage provided by using innovative technologies in clinical practice to foster therapies tailored to patient's needs concerns both the possibility of collecting comprehensive and accurate quantitative data, thus supporting a better intervention monitoring, and of offering multi domain activities, also integrating peripheral devices (i.e. sensors). Using innovative technologies in clinical practice also give the possibility to propose neuropsychological and motor activities in a playful and motivating context, thus enhancing participation and enjoyment, especially for the pediatric population, while maintaining high levels of efficiency. Such telerehabilitation pathways allow to increase dosage and intensity of the intervention and ensure caregivers' involvement in the rehabilitation process. This multicenter study aims to assess the feasibility of using technological systems, primarily validated in the adult population, in children with congenital and acquired disabilities by administering ad-hoc questionnaires.