Landon Thornburg, 7, the son of Lon Thornburg, Umatilla-Morrow Education Service District director of assistive technology, demonstrates how the Nintendo Wii will be used to help develop motor skills in special needs students in the school district.<BR><I>Staff photo by E.J. Harris</I>

Lon Thornburg hopes to soon add another tool to the Umatilla-Morrow Education Service District’s arsenal for working with special needs students. But it’s not just fun and games.

Not entirely, anyway.

Following test runs at two Hermiston schools this spring, Thornburg, an assistive technology specialist with the ESD, is now working with two of his colleagues on how to make the Nintendo Wii a viable form of physical and occupational therapy for those special needs children. The results of a planned pilot program next school year could lead to its expansion later on.

But Thornburg made one thing clear:

“We’re not taking the Wii out into schools and having kids play video games,”?Thornburg said. “That’s not the point. The point is we’ve got a tool that’s low cost.”

In earlier trial runs at Sandstone Middle School and Hermiston High School, Thornburg said results were overwhelmingly positive. He said students responded well to the interactive games, which demand a combination of balance, cognition and motor skills. And staff got a good sense of what skill areas kids excelled in and what areas they needed help, Thornburg said.

Perhaps not surprisingly, many viewed it as a treat – though not familiar with some activities, more familiar games like Wii Sports were met with immediate enthusiasm, Thornburg said.

“They see the remote and they just light up,”?Thornburg said.

Thornburg’s son, 7-year-old Landon, demonstrated a few of the Wii Fit games in a dimply lit room at the ESD?office in Pendleton on Wednesday.

First came “Ski Slalom.”?Standing on the Wii’s balance board, Landon guided a downhill skier through gates on the projection screen in front of him. When he shifted his weight to the left of the board, electronic sensors told the skier to veer left. When he shifted right, it darted right.

Landon also showed a few other balance-related games, and a basic running exercise using the system’s regular motion sensor controller.

Thornburg used the family Wii for the demonstration. So who wins at home?

“At boxing, he beats me,”?Landon said of his dad.

ESD?physical therapist Jodi Garberg, who along with occupational therapist Christi Sullivan has helped launch the idea, said the Wii offers one quality traditional exercises often don’t:?”It’s fun.”

While still addressing many of the same needs, Wii can keep children more engaged and interested for a longer period of time, she said. More than a traditional balance exercise, the games provide extra interaction and feedback, she added.

“Me one on one, it’s boring old me standing in front of them,”?Garberg said.

Some have dubbed the new practice “Wii-hab.” The three working on the project hope Wii can help special needs students improve coordination, strength, motor skills or even classroom learning. Those questions remain to be answered definitively, but next year’s pilot program should go a long way toward that end, Thornburg said.

Once Thornburg and others collect the necessary data and testing, those results could lead to grant applications to expand the program if all goes well, he said. For now, the ESD uses systems that were donated when Pendleton Academies closed its doors last fall. The pilot program will land in two yet-to-be-determined schools next year for about six months at a time.

Thornburg said the Wii could benefit children with either physical or cognitive disabilities. Even a simple, interactive exercise with some assistance can go a long way in some cases, he said.

“They definitely have a lack of ability in these skills,”?Thornburg said, “that we take for granted.”