By Valerie Wigglesworth
The Dallas Morning News
FRISCO, Texas — Each shiny new vehicle had a pit crew and a balloon to mark the special occasion.
The 12 young drivers came for the fun. But their parents and teachers know these motorized ride-on toy vehicles serve a more practical purpose: They give students with severe disabilities the mobility to explore the world around them at the touch of a button.
The toy cars also spark greater cognitive gains and can help students qualify for a motorized wheelchair at an earlier age.
“Pure joy,” Meggan Jackson said of her daughter’s freedom to motor across the room in her mini Volkswagen bus. “This is a first for her. … Now she can go wherever she wants to go.”
Jackson’s 3-year-old daughter, Abbi, has a neurological disorder called Rett syndrome. She was among the students at the Early Childhood School chosen for this unique effort in Frisco.
It was inspired by the University of Delaware’s GoBabyGo program. The research lab developed the basics for modifying ride-on cars, then shared its manual online. Frisco Independent School District’s test run last year with one vehicle was a success.
“We just knew we had to make this bigger,” said Lindsay Brittain, a teacher with the active learning class preschool program for children with disabilities.
She and physical therapist Jennifer Cox received a $1,300 grant through the Frisco Education Foundation to buy three vehicles. Further efforts raised an additional $5,000 through the Frisco Sunrise Rotary Club to purchase eight more vehicles.
Increasing mobility is key for these students, Brittain said. “We know that when they play a part in that mobility that they then have that desire to move,” she said.
The vehicles also boost social interactions.
“Our kids are a little bit hard to play with,” Brittain said, noting many of the children are nonverbal. “This way, kids can come and actually interact with them because they have a really cool medium to play through.”
Teachers Travis Volk and Ken Strong enlisted their second-year engineering students at Frisco ISD’s Career and Technical Education Center to retrofit the cars.
The students removed the foot pedal and reconfigured the wiring to replace it with a power button. Most buttons are on the steering wheel. A few are strategically placed elsewhere — off to one side, behind the head — to play to each child’s strength.
Engineering students also added a kill switch for parents, harnesses, seat belts, safety rails and other features, depending on each student’s needs. They used 3-D printers to create the parts they needed.
“It wasn’t difficult to get the students to pitch in whenever they finished their classwork early,” Volk said. “They saw the true meaning behind what they were doing.”
The reward came last week. Engineering students met with families of the youngsters at the CTE Center to explain each vehicle’s features. The kids then got to test-drive them before taking the toy vehicles home. Once a child outgrows the car, the family will return it to the district so it can be given to another child.
“It’s really cool to see the impact we had,” said 10th-grader Molly Lammes.
Fellow 10th-grader Colin Burden remembers the thrill he had years ago when he got his own ride-on toy Jeep. He volunteered to do the wiring for several of the modified toy cars.
“I knew this was going to make some kid happy,” he said.
Did it ever.
Adam Ahmed, 6, loves cars. The first-grader at Pink Elementary had outgrown two other ride-on vehicles his family bought. His latest one — modified by the engineering students — accommodates his long legs.
Adam, who has cerebral palsy, couldn’t wait to get out of his wheelchair and into his sleek black ride-on truck. He didn’t need words to communicate. His huge smile said it all.
His mom, Jabeen Shazia, said the vehicle will help him get a better sense of left and right. “Now he can go anywhere he wants,” she said.
Morgan Craig, who turns 5 next week, got Frisco’s first toy vehicle last year and came back this year for a bigger one.
“It shows use he has the ability to learn,” said his mom, Juanita Craig.
Besides being fun, the cars teach cause and effect. When kids touch the big red button on the steering wheel, the car powers forward. Children with sensory issues don’t like to touch. But that feeling gets forgotten as they seek the thrill of moving, she said.
“It’s awesome,” Craig said of the toy cars. “I just can’t believe how quickly he picked it up.”
Morgan, who was born premature at 22 weeks and four days, has developmental delays.
“A lot of times people underestimate these kids,” she said. “They just learn differently. We have to find new avenues and guide them.”
Morgan doesn’t fully understand the concept of his new car yet — but he’s catching on quickly.
“He likes the fact that he can go,” Craig said — and “he likes to go fast.”
