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According to the Portuguese National Institute of Statistics (INE), in 2001 there were approximately 66 219 mentally impaired people which represent 0,64% of total population. Of these, 23 666 (35,74%) where classified by Social Security by having a disability degree of 60% or more, and require special attention and occupational therapy. New technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) open new and exciting opportunities that may address some limitations and problems of conventional occupational therapy, such as patients' low motivation, lack of time to develop/apply adapted exercises for individuals with specials needs in heterogeneous groups and therapist skill, among others.
Microsoft Kinect© is a new device that enables users to control a PC or a videogame console without needing any physical interface. This is accomplished by a sensor than records a person's full body movements in real time and interprets those movements in commands.
We propose to assess the benefits of using Microsoft Kinect© videogames to stimulate cognitive capacities of patients with mental disabilities, namely orientation, visual and spatial perception, motor praxis, visual motor organization and thinking operations.
