Sensory stimuli in gaming interaction: The potential of games in the intervention for children with cerebral palsy

One of the challenges that children with cerebral palsy (CP) face is their inability to enjoy playing. Due to their motor disabilities, it is very difficult for these children to play with toys as other kids do. Therefore, disabilities resulting from CP can make childhood games very burdensome. Currently, computer systems are increasingly dedicated to providing users with more sophisticated sensory experiences. Also, games have explored the individual skills of people, in terms of action, interaction and immersion of the game users. Providing these disabled users with an engaging environment could ultimately help them explore the world of movement and motor skills. In this paper, we approach these features by exploring gaming interaction and the potential of sensory stimuli. Our main goal is to discuss the importance of designing games that are considerate of children with cerebral palsy. Many games work with interactivity, but interactivity, alone, is not enough when the goal is to achieve more than entertainment. A better approach may consider sensory stimulation as a gaming interaction. The best way to do this is to introduce synesthesia into the design. Accordingly, we will discuss synesthetic features in virtual environments prior to describing the scenario of how this concept may affect children with cerebral palsy. Accompanying this discussion, a review of related works is described in order to understand the potential use of games in the intervention of children with cerebral palsy.