Research collaborations
Go, baby, go!
June 11, 2024
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A team of engineers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and students is working with children and their families to adapt motorized toy cars to the needs and abilities of each child.
Crawling, walking, and running are milestones in children’s lives. Besides promoting cognitive, social, motor and language development, these skills allow children to have active control over how they explore their homes, parks, and other spaces. However, for children with disabilities, this exploration might need to happen with the support of a caregiver that carries them or pushes them in a stroller or wheelchair.
A partnership between Smith Engineering, the School of Rehabilitation Therapy, and the KidsInclusive Centre for Child and Youth Development at Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) aims to support toddlers with disabilities in gaining autonomy to lead their own exploration. A multidisciplinary team of engineers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and students is working with children and their families to adapt motorized toy cars to the needs and abilities of each child, so that they can drive themselves.
“We know from research that kids’ development is affected when they are not moving independently,” says Emily Jackson, occupational therapist at KidsInclusive. “That’s why we want to get those with motor disabilities moving at the same time that their peers would be crawling, walking, and running.”
Compared to powered wheelchairs, the popular electric cars and jeeps are affordable and easily adaptable. They are also lighter and less of a hazard for toddlers to drive themselves.
“And they are very cool: every kid wants one of these,” adds Claire Davies (Mechanical and Materials Engineering). But the most important piece of the project led by Jackson and Dr. Davies is that experts work with children and caregivers to co-design models tailored to each family.
A family checks out a toy electric car before taking it for a test drive at the gym in McArthur Hall.
The popular toy electric vehicles are usually activated by pressing a pedal and driven by using a steering wheel. But, for these children, they are adapted to include a switch activated by hand to substitute the accelerator pedal. Added features can also help children use the steering wheel, and physical support may be attached to help drivers sit upright and feel secure while exploring.
At an event hosted on campus on May 31, nine clients of KidsInclusive – children aging 1.5 through 3.5 years – and their families spent the day designing, building, and testing the adapted toy cars with support from 26 Queen’s staff and students, KidsInclusive staff, and community members. At the end of the workshop, families took home their new vehicles. Caregivers also learned what components of the adapted toy cars may potentially break and how to fix them.
The knowledge translation event, funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Connection Grant, draws inspiration from the Go Baby Go initiative led by the University of Delaware, which has expanded across the globe. It also builds on the work done by Dr. Davies throughout the past few years to help engineering students develop expertise in switch design, 3-D printing, sensors, and collaborative engagement – a program also funded by SSHRC through its Synthesis and Insight Development grants.
“Sometimes engineers work as if they were designing for themselves, or designing the devices that they think are best. But here, we are trying to make sure that they work together with their clients, understand their needs, and really listen to what they want – if the clients don’t like, you go back to square one,” says Dr. Davies.
The team will follow up with the families to understand their experiences with the devices after the event, and make further adjustments if necessary. Because all participants are also clients of KidsInclusive, the team expects to see them on a regular basis and monitor their development over time to evaluate the potential impact of this intervention. At the very least, these young drivers will for sure have lots of fun.
On May 31, children and their families spent the day designing, building, and testing the adapted toy cars with support from 26 Queen’s staff and students, KidsInclusive staff, and community members.
