New wheels help kids leave mobility issues in the dust

Mary Owens, a physical therapist at the Special Learning Center prepares to place a modified seat into the battery-powered car as the team works to make it safer and user-friendly for students. Austin McCarthy, second from left, works with occupational therapist Terri Brune, second from right, as Lauren Kray, a physical therapy student at Rockhurst University, looks on. McCarthy is a civil engineering student at Rockhurst University.
Mary Owens, a physical therapist at the Special Learning Center prepares to place a modified seat into the battery-powered car as the team works to make it safer and user-friendly for students. Austin McCarthy, second from left, works with occupational therapist Terri Brune, second from right, as Lauren Kray, a physical therapy student at Rockhurst University, looks on. McCarthy is a civil engineering student at Rockhurst University.

The Special Learning Center (SLC) in Jefferson City welcomed guests Friday from GoBabyGo! (GBG) Kansas City to train staff to turn toy cars into a way to stimulate development, promote mobility and make children happy.

GBG is led by physical therapy and engineering students from Rockhurst University. The group takes a toy car that children can ride in and modifies it to meet the special needs of children with mobility and developmental disorders. After the group is finished, SLC students will be able to move throughout the facility without being carried or needing any other special equipment.

"We are just thrilled that we are going to have this in the Jefferson City area," said Debbie Hamler, SLC director. "This counts as in-service training for my physical and occupational therapist, but it is also teaching us a skill that is going to be invaluable because we are going to be able to provide mobility devices for many children in the Mid-Missouri area."

The project was started in Delaware. After one of the Kansas City project coordinators, Kendra Gagnon, attended a GBG workshop and took the information to some other students in Kansas City, the project took on a life of its own. The new branch in Jefferson City will be called GoBabyGo! Mid Mo., Hamler said.

The SLC received donations from Thrivent Financial, Walmart and local charity Sydney's Circle. Three volunteers from the Capital Shrine Club also donated their time building the cars. Each of the three vehicles will come with a sticker stating "powered by Sydney's Circle" to honor the charity.

Each of the mobility devices costs approximately $200, including the cost of the toy car. It takes roughly two hours to modify them. This is relatively cheap when compared to the cost of other professional mobility devices for children, as some can cost up to $10,000, Hamler said.

Other than helping parents by providing an alternative to expensive medical equipment, the toy cars also promote development in the tiny drivers.

"Some of the science behind this is that when kids achieve self-directed mobility - meaning mobility on their own - we see not only improvement in getting around the environment, but also improvements in social skills, cognition, communication, and their parents interact with them more," Gagnon said. "The research really shows that for children that achieve that self-directed mobility in a typical way, learning to roll, crawl and walk, have benefits equal to kids that achieve mobility through assisted technology."

Gagnon continued to explain that improving a child's mobility leads to an improvement in the child's overall development.

She has built five cars so far after learning about the program just a couple of months ago, and she plans to build many more, she said.

"It is really an innovative approach to giving some of the kids who don't get around very well, or don't get around at all, an opportunity to be in something that they can locomote in," said Bill Ambrose, who helped the group modify the vehicles.

Ambrose is a local dentist with an education in engineering. He said he had previously agreed to help Hamler and later got a call from her for this project.

"They got good directions and lots of good help here and lots of good equipment to work with, and technically, it is not difficult - it is just tedious," Ambrose said. "I think it deserves some community support, and doing whatever we can for the kids at the learning center is a good community project."

The SLC will still need more support to keep making cars, even with the low cost, local donations and help from local clubs.

"We are hoping that our community will really help us and step up with this," Hamler said. "We will have to secure funding. ... We will certainly reach out and have parents help to pay for them if they can. If they cannot, we are going to hope some people in our community will help us."