Brain-Computer Interfaces - Life Participation for Paralyzed Children

On Monday November 4th, 2024, the Weinberg Family Cerebral Palsy Center hosted its 11th Marilyn R. Lindenauer Distinguished Speaker Series lecture with guest speaker Adam Kirton, MD, MSc, FRCPC, who spoke on the topic "Enabling Life Participation for Paralyzed Children with Brain Computer Interfaces".

Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) technology has been around for decades but children with neurological disabilities have been largely left out of its progress. Dr. Kirton is a pediatric neurologist and leading neuroscientist in the field of pediatric stroke; his Brain Computer Interface Laboratory (@BCI4kids) at Alberta Children's Hospital is on the forefront of this space in the world. Their research is uncovering promising potential for children living with severe physical disabilities to interact with the world using their thought. 

In this special lecture, Dr. Kirton took us through the history and concepts of non-invasive and implantable BCI. He shared remarkable examples on how BCI reads brain signals, then following processing, maps those signals so patients can then communicate, write, paint, cook, play video games and move their wheelchairs through thinking.

Dr. Kirton's team is not only pushing the boundaries of this cutting-edge technology to help families thrive, but through their work on funding, integration with AI, engineering and the healthcare system, they hope to provide families with access and opportunity to try BCI. 

Adam Kirton, MD, MSc, FRCPC 
Dr. Kirton is Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary and an attending Pediatric Neurologist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. He holds the Dr. Robert Haslam Chair in Pediatric Neurology. Dr. Kirton’s research focuses on applying neurotechnologies to generate new opportunities for life participation for children with severe disabilities. He directs the Calgary Pediatric Stroke Program (perinatalstroke.com, @PedStrokeYYC) and ACH Brain Computer Interface Laboratory (BCI4kids.com, @BCI4kids).