Innovating Occupational Therapy Practice through Co-Design & Assistive Technology

Keeping Clients at the Centre

Co-design and human-centred design are fundamental approaches to user-centric, fit-for-purpose, creative practice, particularly in the assistive technology sector. It focuses on involving the client in the design process, ensuring their abilities and goals are the guiding force to enable best outcomes. This approach underpins the development of custom assistive technology as it provides agency to all stakeholders involved in the design, development and delivery of the technology to contribute creatively and flexibly, with the client and their goals as the focal points. 

“The clients have their lived experience and are experts of themselves. It’s all about getting them involved in the design so that the final product to determine what’s going to work best for them to achieve their goal. This participatory design exercise provides them with more choice and control over the end result. They’ll also have full access to the expertise of other professionals where the team can learn from each other to achieve a holistic outcome,” says Betty Kuok, TAD occupational therapist.

TAD, an assistive technology and therapy provider based in NSW, changes the lives of people living with a disability by providing personalised technology, equipment and services. TAD occupational therapist, Betty Kuok, designs personalised assistive technology solutions with the assistance of skilled volunteer engineers, utilising their power of technology to produce products and solutions suitable for clients. Collaborating amongst a group of skilled volunteers stemming from a variety of industries, occupational therapists have more control as initiators in the concept and design phase of (assistive) product development.

Custom is Key

In May 2020, TAD launched its newly remodelled TAD Makerspace. The TAD Makerspace is a multi-purpose workshop providing a variety of new technologies, making it easier for technical teams to be able to design, create and build assistive technologies. The state-of-the-art makerspace includes a variety of technologies including a laser cutter, a manufacture-quality 3D printer, a CNC router, welding bay and more.

(Image: TAD’s technical team recently worked on a Gomier Trike with an electric pedal assist and mount clamps, allowing the client to add on their walker at the back of their trike.)

“You’ve got all these different modalities now to create custom equipment for a client. The variety of new technologies now provides more options to work with, which is better, because we can now be more accurate with achieving what the client and their occupational therapists want. The final outcome can be more tailored to what the client and therapist envisioned,” says Betty.

With the new technology improving the quality of the work, it has improved TAD’s capacity and capabilities to do more.

“The main focus is about the client. It’s their property after all. We want to make sure that it’s something they like, in terms of both appearance and functionality. Having all these new options for our clients, with the help of the laser cutter and 3D printer, having different colours and materials for our clients to choose from, I think that is really great,” says Betty.

New Innovations

Working with these new resources, TAD’s technical teams have recently worked alongside clients and their therapists to create custom assistive solutions that will assist them in their daily living.

• 3D Printed Custom Hand Support. This solution was created to help Patrick, a young boy who is diagnosed with Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM), which affects parts of the spinal cord that controls movement. Patrick needed assistance when riding as he could not hold or control the handlebar with his right hand. The splint was created to keep his hand in place to enable him to control the steering in good posture but also to pivot via a magnet which would allow a quick release in case of an accident.
  • (Image: Patrick, Client – Patrick testing his new hand splint created by TAD Volunteer, which will enable him to control the steering with good posture.)
• Archery Bow Grip that was 3D printed for a young boy, who was born with a congenital hand abnormality in his right hand. This grip would allow the user to be able to hold his bow for archery and arrow without having the issue of it dropping from lack of grip.
• TAD’s Adaptable Solutions range has been redesigned and improved using the CNC router, laser cutter and 3D printer. With the help of these new fabrication technologies, the range now includes newly produced components that enhances the design of the range and overall quality and capacity for quicker manufacture.

Change Makers

Creating these fit-for-purpose solutions for clients relies on collaboration in the design process. In February 2020, TAD hosted the inaugural TAD Change Makers, an exhilarating event where four teams made up of occupational therapists, skilled engineers, students, and designers competed to design and rapid-prototype, discovering new ways of helping people with a disability achieve their goals through the use of custom assistive technology.

(Image: Betty Kuok, TAD’s occupational therapist – TAD ChangeMakers (2020). Betty worked alongside the four teams to provide her expertise on occupational therapy and how their conceptual ideas could be beneficial for the user.)

The hack-a-thon style event took place over three days with all four teams choosing between one of two challenges: 1) an assistance dog reward system for people with no hand mobility or 2) an electronic mobility solution for a child too young for a powered wheelchair. Occupational therapist, Betty supervised and supported the teams throughout the event:

“I found that from day one, a lot of the teams had come up with great ideas and concepts about what would work and what kind of technology they could use but the main questions they asked were ‘what would the person actually need? What are their safety considerations? What are the standards within the environment?’ And to me that all comes down to occupational understanding and consideration of the user,” says Betty.

“Over the three-day event, we had one occupational therapist participating. It was no surprise that the team she was on won the TAD ChangeMakers first prize. They had a big advantage in their team, and that was that they were more focused on the human centred element where all they kept thinking about was the client at hand and how and why it would be practical for them. That occupational therapist was in high demand when we were forming teams! We’d love to see more occupational therapist participation next year.”

All About Teamwork

Co-designing is crucial in the overall process of creating innovative new ideas for clients. With the help of technical teams (engineers and designers), occupational therapists can focus on the client to identify what supports will enable them to achieve their goals. Applying occupational analysis, occupational therapists can determine what technology is most suitable and how it will be beneficial to the end-user. If it doesn’t already exist, technical teams are on-hand to create new and innovative solutions.

(Image: TAD ChangeMakers (2020) – Team Smurf (Blue Team) won the grand prize after pitching their design ad concept on a mobility walker for a young child.)

“With our talented volunteers and new technology, we are now able to bring these concepts to life better than ever, and lead with a co-design approach to our design process. We can now generate rapid-prototyping, where I (and other occupational therapists) can now trial the prototype with the client in real time, enabling them to test and experience it, ensuring their voice and feedback is captured before the final product is created,” says Betty.

Occupational therapists around Australia are encouraged to submit creative ideas and get involved in co-design with the team at TAD and their national network of assistive technology providers, TAD Australia to create custom assistive technology solutions for their clients.

About the Author

Julie El Zaouk is based in Sydney and is currently the Digital Marketing Officer at TAD. To learn more about TAD visit https://tad.org.au or call 02 9912 3400. To register your interest in TAD ChangeMakers 2021 visit www.changemakers.tad.org.au