66 per Va Si V E Computing

D eveloping new behavior or encou rag ing behav iora l changes in children can be challenging even for experienced parents and teachers. Such persuasion is usually verbal, but verbal-only persuasion isn’t always effective, particularly in children with communication difficulties, because it offers limited incentive to change. So, pediatric occupational therapists often use play-based activities to induce behavioral changes by leveraging children’s desire to play. The term play-based occupational therapy refers to the use of a child occupation—that is, play—to cultivate the general skills and abilities needed to perform daily functional activities.1 Play-based occupational therapy has proven successful in motivating behavioral changes in children,1 but it does have limitations. One drawback is that children often undergo treatment in specialized clinics during regular appointment hours. However, behavior such as eating, brushing teeth, or sleeping can’t be observed during this time. If therapists can’t directly observe these functional behaviors, they can’t intervene. Therefore, therapists can only train children in general skills and hope that they apply the skill when it’s needed.2 However, because activity performance is an interaction between a person, activity, and context, improving general skills doesn’t ensure improved performance in the target activities. A more direct approach involves making the target activities fun to engage children to actively participate, which directly enhances their performance. Pervasive computing can provide opportunities to extend occupational therapists’ reach from the treatment clinic to the client’s natural living environment. It also enables occupational therapists to use digital technology to implement effective behavior intervention programs and target specific functional behaviors where it naturally occurs and when it would prove most effective.