Albert 'Skip' Rizzo is an expert in the use of virtual reality technology in mental health applications and with older adults. A Research Scientist at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies, Research Professor, USC Department of Psychiatry, Research Professor, USC Davis School of Gerontology, he conducts research on the use of Virtual Reality for exposure therapy in social phobia, for role-playing applications such as in anger management, and for acute pain distraction during at painful medical procedures and for discomfort reduction during chemotherapy. His latest project has focused on the translation of the graphic assets from the Xbox game, Full Spectrum Warrior, into an exposure therapy application for combat-related PTSD with Iraq War veterans. The common thread that drives all of these applications involves the study of how VR simulation technology can be usefully applied to serve the needs of the client in a manner that goes beyond what is available with traditional 20th Century tools and methods. VR and augmented reality have potential future application in brain injury rehabilitation, so I was fascinated to be able to talk to Skip about his work, after a keynote he gave at the New Zealand Rehabilitation Association Conference in Auckland, New Zealand in March 2011.
Synapse Voices
Conversations about mobile computing technology in brain injury rehabilitation. Dissemination of technology-related research solely through traditional professional forums risks failing to keep pace with technology changes. Such forums also privilege knowledge gained from empirical research over experience gained in clinical application, and rarely give a voice to people with brain injuries and their families. The Synapse Voices podcast facilitates conversation between researchers, clinicians, people with brain injuries and their families regarding the role of mobile computing technology in brain injury rehabilitation and beyond.
In post-production, to be released soon: Duncan Babbage's plenary session at the New Zealand Rehabilitation Association conference in Auckland in March 2011, discussing his systematic review of past studies examining mobile computing technology in brain injury rehabilitation, and an interview with Catherine Stirling, an Occupational Therapist from Australia, discussing her experiences of using the iPad as a cognitive prosthetic with two of her clients with brain injuries.
A conversation with Pat Hutchison. Trained for primary schools that cater for children aged five to eleven, she started teaching in 1967 in a four-teacher country school in the middle of New Zealand's King Country. She moved into special education in the late 1980s when her attention was captured by the concept of mainstreaming. She has a Masters degree in Education with a focus on teaching students with learning and behaviour support needs. She has been based at Tawa School in Wellington, New Zealand for the last 20 years, as an itinerant teacher of special needs and then in the more recent role as a resource teacher of learning and behaviour. And in that role, she is amongst other things exploring the use of technology.
A conversation with Deacon Patrick Jones of the Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs. He is a brain injury chaplain, providing internet-based support and assistance to people worldwide. His is no ordinary ministry though, because he lives these issues from within... a series of brain injuries mean that each day presents him with challenges, in particular with ongoing disability in terms of memory impairment. His work to to rehabilitate himself has included making an iPhone his external brain.
In this inaugural episode of Synapse Voices, Duncan talks with Dr Gerald Craddock, Chief Officer of the Center for Universal Design, Dublin, discussing universal design principles, and asking about the progress in implementing cognitive universal design.
(The full transcript of this interview will be uploaded in the near future.)