Many children with Cerebral Palsy, a physical impairment, also have other difficulties, such as visual impairment. Many with visual troubles are incredibly sensitive towards objects touching their face. We have designed the Petal Crown with a specific person in mind, a young girl named Eleanor, who has both of these impairments: it is a headdress used to desensitize her face from foreign objects and build her fine motor skills. That being said, Petal Crown could be used by any child working with an occupational therapist to acclimate to facial proximity and/or practice fine motor skills.

    We used 3D printed pieces to hold wire arms to a wooden bent circular base. The wires are connected by a different 3D printed piece which holds plexiglas pieces to the arms. Eleanor puts these plexiglas “gems” into the 3D printed holders, giving her practice with detailed movements. To have practice with objects coming near her face, she could reach up and grab one of these wire arms and bring it near her eyes to put the gems in.

    Using the headpiece, Eleanor will be able to connect with other children who are not visually or physically impaired much more easily because she will have more accurate movements and will be desesitized to movements close to her face; this will lead to less frustration and more joy.