DisabledRecreations

Lindsay’s room is setup with a Laptop computer with a 26” Flat screen television that has a PC (RGB) port to plug the computer into. The reason for the Flat screen (tv) is it’s easier for her to see, it is a bigger screen than her monitor, and makes game playing better for her. We have a dual mouse set up so we can help her move the mouse pointer when needed.

She has her Mouse mounted in a photo album for easy touching. We have two hard sponges stuck to the inside bottom of the photo album and mounted the mouse between them with Velcro on the bottom of the mouse to hold the mouse in place so it doesn’t move around. We mounted a small rectangular piece of sponge to the top of the photo album with sticky puddy. The top piece we have mounted, just makes contact with the left click on the mouse. We have this piece mounted with the putty so we can move it around to get the best connection with the left click as possible. When the photo album gets wore in you need to adjust it to hit the best place on the left click. It seems to work best when it is hitting the highest point on the left click. Just experiment a little while, but this works great for kids with limited control of their arm and hands. The bigger the area to hit, makes it easier for a disabled person to make contact.  Any questions just ask, we will help. We use the swivel clamps and rods to hold her mouse control book in place. We can adjust it to the easiest place and most comfortable position that she needs it to be. We have a 1/2” aluminum rod bolted to her medical bed, that has a swivel clamp connected to it. The swivel clamps have 2 half inch holes that 2 pieces of 1/2 inch rods slide through. Then we slide another swivel clamp on the shaft that is connected to the rod we have bolted to her bed. We then slide the rod that we have bolted to her (photo album) mouse controller and position to the easiest place for her to hit.  So (2) swivel clamps and (1) 2 foot rod and (2) 1 foot rods are needed for her mouse controller.
We have the Computer and Flat screen setting on a Hospital bed table. We can slide it under her bed and have it where she wants it to be. It will adjust up and down as well. She plays numerous games with just the click of the mouse, remember she has limited use of her right arm and hand. She can play games by herself or with a little help from us. We will have a list of games and programs to download on this site. Remember after you have this setup, you need to do your own searching for the games that work best for the person playing the games. We are going to list her favorites and a few others that she can play. For kids with lack of control or constant movement of their arms, such as spasm’s,  extra rods and swivel clamps can be added. If you would position the rods on both sides of the persons arm they are using to play with the controller, you can attach rubber bands or springs to the shafts and to the persons hand or arm and help them stabilize their movements. People with spastic control problems would be able to perform much better if you could stabilize their movement. You can actually slow their movement down to help them control the mouse without the continuous spastic movements. My daughter doesn’t have that problem, but I have used them to hold her hand up when she is tired or being lazy. You can hold their hands up just enough, that it is practically touching the controller and activate it with limited movement. It makes it easier to click the mouse mouse when he/she is tired or being lazy. I will have pictures to show what I mean, it looks like they are a puppet, but they will enjoy themselves so much, it wouldn’t matter. We will update future findings. As far as the games, some you can download for free, some you pay for, but well worth the entertainment. It also gives you a chance to do your own thing. Lindsay’s setup isn’t cheap but you can go cheaper, if you want to know how, just ask. There is nothing better for a person with disabilities than to do something themselves. It doesn’t matter how they do it, as long as they can do it without help. Any achievement my daughter makes, makes me work harder on creating more things for her to do.