Ad Remo is a very special system that was developed
by the dutch physiotherapist Jos van der Veldt.
It is both a therapeutic exercise program and a technical
sophisticated solution to increase the mobility of people with cerebral
palsy and other brain injuries.
Jos claims that he manages to get everybody driving his
wheelchair; and he is too honest a man to lie about this.
How does it work ? The big problem for people with cerebral
palsy is to make controlled movements, the gas works, but the brakes are gone.
Only in a state of quiet relaxation controlled
movements become possible. But most of the time these little, small movements
are not functional; and this is the great thing about adremo; that it makes
these small, subtle movements functional for driving the electric wheelchair,
but also for communication purposes.For it is possible to control the computer
with the same system.
When the movement becomes uncontolled, the system blocks.
When Kiki drives and all goes well she becomes
so relaxed that she starts to yawn.
It's like some sort of yoga. In a way it is, because
it demands mental concentration and physical control and relaxation
at the same time.
closeup, notice
the head levers
Gas she gives with her left foot. Left and right
she steers with both headlevers.
Kiki sits without any fixation in the chair; and this
alone is special; when she started i was afraid she would fall out
of the chair . As you can see in the picture the chair is leaning backwards.
But stil she has to keep position herself; head, trunk
and sit stability are all trained.
An hour drive equals a good therapy session in this way.
The ony drawback is that daily and intense and
well accompagnied training is an absolute necessity to learn it
really well. Jos makes it clear:" it's like topsport".
Even for us, motivated parents as we are, we don't exercise
enough, and get little or no support from school in this matter.
For the adremo system there are also developed some
applications for the computer download
here (dutch Adremo site).
Operations are regulated from one to five functions
according to the capabilities.
It is like driving done with feet and both head levers.
The hands are not used which is quite difficult
for Kiki because she likes to use her hands.
Still i think this system is the best option for computer
control for Kiki until now.