Occupational therapists at Adelante have detected struggles of a large group of children with Cerebral Unilateral Palsy while doing bimanual daily activities. Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a neurological disorder that is caused by brain damage which is in most cases developed during or shortly after birth. It affects a child’s movement, motor skills and muscle tone (CerebralPalsyGuidance). Children who suffer from this disease tend to use their affected arm in daily activities not as frequent as they are physically able to. This makes those activities difficult, inefficient and time consuming. Different than might be expected, this lack of movement is not due to a lack of intrinsic motivation: the children unconsciously forget to use their affected arm. 

KwispelCare is designed to solve the problem state above. It is an interactive stuffed animal that children in the age group 4-8 have to take care of and serves as a buddy through the rehabilitation process. According to the occupational therapist at Adelante, children with CP have a lower mental age, which means that they are longer attracted to the stuffed animals. When the child takes care of it with the affected hand, it will wag its tail. When the child additionally strokes the head with the other hand, it will also start to bark. Besides this, there is a wristband which is designed to detect the amount of movement of the affected arm. This gives the therapist insights in the daily movement of the child from which he or she can adjust the rehabilitation process. Also, the wristband can detect when the movement of the affected arm is too little. If this is the case, a signal on the wristband will appear to encourage the child to e.g. feed the pet with their affected arm. When the child performs the assigned task, the pet will give positive feedback. 

It is envisioned that children will discover the connection between the positive feedback that the pet gives and usage of their affected arm to eventually apply this in daily activities. 

Client Adelante, a healthcare institution, is convinced that children will enjoy using KwispelCare during their rehabilitation process and that it will encourage usage of the affected hand by taking care of the pet. Nevertheless, the long-term effect of the concept is questioned by Adelante.