Early intervention through the use of a powered wheelchair can meliorate the developmental experience of children with mobility impairment. It is therefore important to design an effective training and assessment strategy to facilitate the potentials of each child in readiness to drive the device. The use of virtual reality (VR) technology for wheelchair training purposes is therefore considered. The skills acquired during training in a virtual reality system should be observable in the functional activities of the learner. It is necessary to evaluate the degree and the permanence of the skills learnt from the virtual environment to other activities outside the training environment. The mode of evaluation applied during conventional wheelchair training could provide the basis upon which permanence of skills is determined after training in virtual reality. Thus, an induction factor is proposed as a measure of the transfer of powered wheelchair control skills from virtual reality to the functional activities of daily living by the learner. The outcomes show that virtual reality technology could offer an appropriate means of providing powered wheelchair training that can be tailored to the needs of the learner.

In the light of experience, traditional ways of using the technique of brainstorming are examined. Flaws in the technique include dominance, fixation, inhibition, lack of structure and noise. Describes a method that has been devised which involves randomization, small group working and managed convergence towards better ideas, solutions, designs or products. The technique is not time‐constrained and is carried out in a relaxed atmosphere, conducive to producing a higher quality result.

Children diagnosed with Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (0.2% of live births) are often treated by splintage to hold the head of the femur in the acetabulum during early joint development. Whilst clinically effective, this can create difficulties for the parents in handling the child and affects the mobility of the family, which subsequently creates emotional and social difficulty resulting from the disruption of the family routine. To identify these problems and their order of priority, a survey of 113 recently affected families was carried out in England and Northern Ireland. Parents identified mobility, emotional and social problems. Splintage size and shape was the fundamental problem from which the other difficulties arose. Solutions to the basic difficulties of transporting and seating a child in splintage would largely alleviate the feelings of frustration felt by the families and enable more normal activities of daily living.

The parents of 11 children who were either undergoing or had undergone treatment for 'late-diagnosed' developmental dysplasia of the hip were surveyed by questionnaire to discover the problems associated with activities of daily living. Within this survey, special emphasis was placed on the problems of seating and mobility. The results of the analysis show that there was a deficiency in the equipment available to cope with children in splintage and plaster; there was a need for products to help in seating, particularly with regard to enhancing mobility. This pilot study confirmed the need for focused research to provide such products and a definitive study has now been undertaken.

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