Six weeks after her car accident, three weeks out of her coma, Hannah Anderson, 15, has a lot of work ahead of her. Today there will also be a little play.
"Are you excited to be the first person to play the Wii?" asks Anna Forsberg, her occupational therapist at Gillette Children's Specialty Heathcare in St. Paul. Based on the smile on her face, Hannah's answer is clearly yes.
The North Dakota teen is inaugurating the fresh-out-of-the box Wii video game just put into service at Gillette Children's.
Unlike traditional video games that use a joy stick or finger controls, the Wii requires users to replicated the action of the sport they are playing. "You can't play tennis with your hand in your lap," Forsberg tells her patient. "You have to move your whole arm."
Forsberg started considering the therapy benefits of the Wii after receiving one as a wedding gift back in August. "There's a lot of cognitive aspects to the other games, but this one has the cognitive as well as the physical aspects."
It doesn't hurt that Hannah also has a Wii at home in North Dakota that her father stood in line to buy last Christmas. "She likes computers, she likes games," says Duane Anderson about his daughter.
"I can see improvement even today when she's using this machine," adds her mother, Lisa.
Forsberg expects that "kids aren't even going to know they're doing therapy while they're playing the Wii."
It's hard work, made easier, with a Wii bit of fun.
(Copyright 2007 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)
