Stampede City Progress Club Supporting
Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation
Since 2003, through our Just4Kidz fund, we have provided over $1 million to support research at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.
Our current focus is the Brain Computer Interface (BCI) Program.
Stampede City Progress Club
Brain Computer Interface (BCI) Program
Children living with conditions such as a stroke, spinal cord injury, or cerebral palsy can suffer from severe limitations in their mobility and capacity to communicate. Fully aware and capable, but unable to walk, talk or use their hands, these children are trapped in their bodies.
Thanks to generous community support, world-first research in Brain Computer Interface (BCI) for kids is underway at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.
Brain Computer Interface (BCI)
Brain Computer Interface (BCI) has the potential to engage children – many of whom otherwise cannot communicate in learning and play. Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology recognizes changes in thought patterns via a non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) and transmits those signals to control devices such as computers, phones, TV remotes, and more. While wearing a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) headset, a child can think of the word “go,” for example, to move a remote-controlled car forward.
“Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is an exploding field of study with enormous potential for severely disabled people,” says pediatric neurologist, Dr. Adam Kirton. “However, to date, there has been very little focus on how to adapt it for pediatric users.”
BCI4Kids Program
Recognizing the incredible possibilities for children, Dr. Kirton and his team established the BCI4Kids program to try to find new pathways for young children to interact with the world and realize new levels of independence. The Alberta Children’s Hospital is one of only a few places in the world giving children the opportunity to access Brain Computer Interface (BCI) and has garnered a reputation nationally and internationally as a leader in this area of innovative research.
“We are extremely grateful to our community for helping us launch and grow this program,” says Dr. Kirton. “For severely disabled young people, BCI4Kids aims to make the impossible possible.”
