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Kids with disabilities get high-tech boost

August 9, 2011

Kids with disabilities get high-tech boost

The News Journal | August 9, 2011 | By Kelly Bothum

Technology makes our world easier, whether it’s reheating food in a microwave, using GPS to guide us to an unfamiliar location or clicking on the computer to talk face-to-face with someone on the other side of the globe.

But for children with disabilities, technology goes a step further, to help them better understand their own bodies and be part of the world around them. Handheld communication devices can lend a voice to answer a classmate’s question. Motorized wheelchairs allow for spontaneous exploration and discovery. Cochlear implants and other devices make it possible to hear.

Even technology created for the masses, like the iPad, can reduce the disconnect these children may experience and boost fine motor skills. Apps that offer back-and-forth questions and answers encourage socialization and interaction.

Still, there’s an ongoing struggle between developing new technology and meeting the existing needs of people with disabilities, said Cole Galloway, a physical therapy professor at the University of Delaware and one of several local researchers looking at ways to improve movement in children with disabilities.

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Posted by stronwi

A surprise and chance of independence for wheelchair-bound Wareham woman

July 10, 2011

A surprise and chance of independence for wheelchair-bound Wareham woman

SouthCoastTODAY.com | July 10, 2011 | By Brian Fraga

WAREHAM — DaLiza Cardoza thought she was just going to be named an assistant basketball coach.

But when the 18-year-old arrived Saturday at the Wareham Youth Athletic League’s sun-baked courts, she found Patrick Brent standing in front of a 2008 Honda Element, waving a set of keys.

“This is your car,” said Brent, a marketing director for Freedom Motors, a Michigan company that converts vehicles to wheelchair accessibility.

For Cardoza, a recent graduate of Wareham High School who was diagnosed at age 2 with spinal muscular atrophy, the surprise vehicle meant a chance at an independent life as she prepares to attend college this fall.

“I can’t even explain how I feel,” said Cardoza, as she was surrounded by a crowd of beaming friends and relatives.

“It’s a blessing.”

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Posted by stronwi

How Calvin College engineering students’ invention helps boy who can only move a few fingers

June 12, 2011

How Calvin College engineering students’ invention helps boy who can only move a few fingers

The Grand Rapids Press | June 8, 2011 | By Aaron Albanese

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BYRON TOWNSHIP — Isaac Postma directed his new motorized stroller across the Byron Center Christian School gymnasium floor, navigating his way with a rear-view camera, a couple of buttons and one finger.

The new means of mobility for Isaac, 10, who has spinal muscular atrophy and is limited to the use of just a few fingers, means he can more easily travel the halls of Byron Christian School where he is in fourth grade, join peers on the playground and roll around on the trails outside his grandparents’ cottage.

“Up north,” Isaac said when asked where he most looks forward to using the stroller designed by four Calvin College students. Electrical engineering students Matt Rozema and Rob VanderVennen and mechanical engineering students Matt Last and Dan Evans designed the cart from scratch. They spent more than 1,800 hours of their senior year building it before their graduation in May.

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