ME Hoffman, KM Steele, JE Froehlich, KN Winfree, HA Feldner (2023) “Off to the park: a geospatial investigation of adapted ride-on car usage”

Journal Article in Disability & Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology:

The accessibility of the built environment is an important factor to consider when providing a mobility device to a young child and their family to use in the community.

Figure 8. The accessibility scores for the sidewalks near each Participant’s (P5, P10, P17) home on the left and the drive path of the participant on the right. Participants generally avoided driving on streets that were not accessible.

Aim: To quantify the driving patterns of children using an adapted ride-on car in their home and community environment over the course of a year using an integrated datalogger.

Method: Fourteen children (2.5 ± 1.45 years old, 8 male: 6 female) used adapted ride-on cars outside and inside of their homes over the course of a year. We tracked their device use metrics with a custom datalogger and geospatial data. To measure environmental accessibility, we used the AccessScore from Project Sidewalk, an open-source accessibility mapping initiative, and the Walk Score, a measure of neighborhood pedestrian-friendliness.

Results: More play sessions took place indoors, within the participants’ homes. However, when the adapted ride-on cars were used outside the home, children engaged in longer play sessions, actively drove for a larger portion of the session, and covered greater distances. Most children tended to drive their ROCs in close proximity to their homes. Most notably, we found that children drove more in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods and when in proximity to accessible paths.

Interpretation: The accessibility of the built environment is paramount when providing any form of mobility device to a child. Providing an accessible place for a child to move, play, and explore is critical in helping a child and family adopt the mobility device into their daily life.

“Gears of Progress” Podcast Launch!

Gears of Progress Episode One featuring Elijah Kuska on computational biomechanics, synergies debates, and importance of education accessibility

Lab member, Sasha Portnova, launched a new podcast on research in rehabilitation and assistive technologies. The first episode features Steele Lab Alumni, Elijah Kuska, with a conversation on computational biomechanics, synergies debates, and the importance of education accessibility.

Gears of Progress Logo with three gears featuring assistive devices

Name: Gears of Progress

Platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Castbox

Podcast launch date: Dec 1

Release frequency: bi-weekly on Fridays

Theme: Podcast about research and innovations in rehabilitation engineering and assistive technologies aimed to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. Every episode will feature engineers, medical professionals, end-users, and organizations who focus on improving the health and well-being of individuals with disabilities. We will be covering topics such as emerging tech, outcome measures, medical practice, public policy, accessibility education, and so much more!

Twitterhttps://twitter.com/GearsOfProgress

SWE 2023

Tori and Charlotte are standing with a large sign that says "Heart LA"

Congratulations to Charlotte Caskey and Victoria (Tori) Landrum for presenting as finalists in the Collegiate Poster Competition at the Society of Women Engineer’s Annual Conference in LA this weekend.

Tori placed 3rd in the undergraduate student division for her poster titled “Spinal Stimulation Improves Spasticity and Motor Control in Children with Cerebral Palsy”. Charlotte placed 1st in the graduate student division for her work titled “Machine Learning for Quantifying Rehabilitation Response in Children with Cerebral Palsy.

Congratulations, Charlotte and Tori!

AACPDM 2023

Two people smiling and taking a selfie while standing in front of The Shirley Ryan Ability Lab sign. Mia has blonde hair. Charlotte has brown hair and is wearing glasses.

Lab members, Charlotte Caskey and Mia Hoffman attended the 2023 American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM) Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL on September 10-13, 2023.

Charlotte gave a poster presentation on “Short-Burst Interval Treadmill Training Increases Step Length and Stability for Children with Cerebral Palsy.”

Mia gave a podium presentation during the Early Detection and Diagnosis session on “Quantifying the Activity Levels of Toddlers with Down Syndrome Playing in a Partial Body Weight Support System.

Great work in the Windy City!